Assessment Practices: Ascertaining Views and Level of Understanding of Kindergarten Teachers in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

The thrust of the study was to investigate the various assessment practices teachers employ in assessing children with intellectual disabilities in inclusive classrooms in the Kumasi metropolis as majority of them do not follow many recommended assessment practices. A descriptive survey design was espoused using a sample of 120 early childhood teachers from 22 public inclusive schools in the Kumasi Metro. The purposive sampling technique was used to select all 22 public inclusive schools, while convenience sampling technique was employed to select the actual respondents for the study. Questionnaire was used to gather the research data. Means and Standard deviations were used as statistical tools to analyse the data. The findings revealed that most inclusive public kindergartens teachers in the Kumasi metropolis have a positive view about assessment practices and confirmed to employing it in assessing children with intellectual disabilities in inclusive classrooms. It was also evident that most inclusive public kindergarten teachers in the Kumasi metropolis have knowledge about assessment practices in inclusive schools. In spite of the positive areas recorded about the use of assessment practices, more needed to be done by the teachers to manage the diverse needs of children with intellectual disabilities in inclusive schools. It was therefore recommended that more workshops and in-service training should be organized to inclusive public kindergarten teachers in the Kumasi metropolis with respect to the updated ways of adopting assessment practices for children with intellectual difficult.