the systems planned operation and the practice in reality as the Nigerian experience
illustrates. Nwakoby (1988) highlights major problem areas which include inadequate
conceptualisation by teachers, doubtful validity of assessment, and inadequate
structural and administrative support. Attempts to introduce continuous assessment
schemes in some countries have floundered in the face of practical problems and the
opposition of groups who see few real benefits emerging and much extra work (e.g.
Shri Lanka). In other cases complete dependence on school-based examining
moderated by national rating examinations has been replaced by a mixed system that
cumulates internal and external examination scores together (Papua New Guinea).
There is some suggestive evidence from Papua New Guinea that schools where
correlations between internal assessment and the external rating examination are lower,
(Ross 1992 cited in Lewin 1992:110) perform better than those where the correlations
are high. It is most likely that examination orientation is least where the correlation is
lowest and internal tests measure a different range of outcomes to external assessment.
A number of countries have begun to develop their capacity to analyse performance on
examinations and feed insights from this back into the school system. Somerset's work
in Kenya in the early 1980's is a well known example of this (Somerset 1982). The
Examination department in Papua New Guinea issues comprehensive analyses of
examination performance to schools which provide indications of which areas students
performance is weakest. This kind of data, both on school performance as a whole, and
on individual item response patterns, is a potentially invaluable source of data for
planning and intervention decisions. The problem is generally either that the data
collection and analysis system is unable to provide such information in countries where
infrastructure is weak, or that very limited use is made of the information since its
distribution is restricted and its presentation too technical for many of those with access
to it. A recent paper by Eisemon (1990) explores examination policies to strengthen
primary schooling in African countries.
A new analysis of science examination data in Malaysia (Lewin and Sharifah
Maimunah 1994) illustrates how new insights can emerge from reanalysing
examination data. In this study some science items were identified which were
relatively easier for rural students despite the fact that there mean scores were well
below the national average. Under performance of rural students therefore appears to be
concentrated in particular areas of the science curriculum and it is teaching and learning
in these that invites intervention strategies, rather than in all areas of the science
curriculum. Similarly analysis of the performance of a sample of girls with similar
overall scores to those of boys showed that scores were being achieved in different
ways some areas appeared easier for girls and others considerably more difficult. This
suggests girls performance could be improved by attention to learning problems in a
few specific areas of science. The research also shed light on another possible aspect of
the over emphasis on examination results. There appear to be different strategies
employed by schools to attract public recognition. In some overall pass rates are