Abstract

Assessment of students forms an integral part of all educational processes. The form, nature, and timing of such assessments varies, depending perhaps on the structure and formality of the learning spaces they are situated in and the foci and explicitness of specified objectives, learning or otherwise. Therefore, what has been taught, ² especially in the context of formal school education, needs to be not only learned but get manifested, reported, and assessed as well, in some form or other. The purpose of student assessment could be either to gauge the acquisition of desired learning over a specified period of time or to use the assessment results to assist students in their learning (Pellegrino et al. 2001). It could even be to examine the effectiveness of syllabus, teaching/learning resources and pedagogic experiences in achieving the desired learning objectives (Tyler 1949) or be something totally extraneous to learning, serving perhaps as a legitimate screening device for selecting and discriminating between candidates for distributing or withholding of certain rewards.