Strategies and Constraints of Portfolio Assessment Practice Among Science Teachers in Secondary Schools in Ife Central Local Government Area of Osun State

Abstract

The study assessed strategies used for effective implementation and the constraints associated with the use of portfolio assessment among science teachers in secondary schools in Ife Central Local Government of Osun State. Descriptive survey research design. The study population comprised all the science teachers in secondary schools in Ife central Local Government Area of Osun State. The study sample comprised of 100 science teachers who were purposively selected from the 20 secondary schools (10 public and 10 private) in the area. An instrument developed by the researcher titled Questionnaire on the strategies and constraints of Portfolio Assessment, was used for the study. The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the research instrument using Cronbach Alpha yielded 0.96 and 0.83. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and Relative Significance Index. The results showed that the most prominent strategies used by teachers for implementation is that they rate a portfolio without looking at students name with the highest RSI value of 0.704. The teachers also make use of more than one trained rater for the assessment of students’ portfolio and also encourage students to make plans for revising the products in their portfolios with also high RSI values of 0.696 and 0.688 respectively. Finally, the result showed that the most prominent identified contraints is that the intensity of the curriculum make it difficult to implement portfolio assessment. It was recommended that science teachers in secondary schools need to gain a better understanding of how to use portfolio assessment as an alternate method of assessment through workshops, symposia, and seminars.