The Predictive Validity of Form Two Secondary Education Examination (FTSEE) on Students’ Performance in the Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) in Biology Subject: A Tanzanian Perspective

Abstract

This article is based on the study which sought to examine the predictive validity of Form Two Secondary Education Examination (FTSEE) on students’ performance in the Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) in Biology subject. A sample of 120 students from some selected secondary schools in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania, was involved. The collected data were analyzed using computer software, Statistical Package for Software System (SPSS), Version 18. In the data analysis, the Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation (r) technique was used in order to determine the strength, direction and significance o of the relationships of all the variables included in the study. The findings indicated that there was a strong relationship between the students’ performance in the FTSEE and CSEE (i.e. from r=0.442, p<0.01 to r=0.726, p<0.01) regardless of sex and type of school. Nevertheless, the relationship was found to be higher for females (r=0.726) than males (r= 0.613). In addition, for the case of the studied Day school, male students in the Day school  had a higher correlation coefficient between the two examinations (r=0.65) than female students (r=0.442). This implies that female students performed slightly better than males in Boarding schools while in the Day school, male students performed better than females. Therefore, on the basis of these findings, it is recommended that the FTSEE should be sustained in order to improve the students’ performance in the CSEE in Tanzania.

Keywords: Predictive validity, Examinations, Students’ performance, Tanzania.