Measurement and Evaluation in Education in Kenya

This book is a culmination of research that evaluated goodness of fit of test construction procedures utilized by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) and behavioural outcomes that Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) graduates should portray. The study analysed the distribution of examination questions along the cognitive domain of nine sampled 8-4-4 subjects in the KCSE examination. It investigated the extent to which the KCSE tested on low order and high order levels of the cognitive domain. Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and Piaget's (1976) Theory of Cognitive Development were the study’s theoretical framework. Findings indicated that except in Mathematics, most mental tasks demanded by examination questions required students' ability to reproduce subject content at the lower cognitive levels. Dr. Njoka opines that, in most subjects, secondary education in Kenya is a mere four-year rote learning period. He recommends that the Kenya National Examinations Council should regularly review its testing procedures to accommodate high order thinking. This book is recommended for educationists, educational policy makers and examination bodies.