Quality Classroom Assessment in Ghanaian Colleges of Education: Lecturers’ Perceptions and Principals’ Leadership Roles

Abstract

Quality classroom assessment is central to the implementation of Ghana’s teacher-education reforms, yet its effectiveness depends on both assessment practice and institutional leadership. This study used a convergent mixed-methods design to examine lecturers’ perceptions of principals’ assessment leadership and principals’ accounts of the practices and conditions that shape assessment quality in public Colleges of Education in Ghana’s Ashanti Region. Quantitative data were obtained from 199 lecturers, and qualitative data were generated through interviews with eight principals. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling were complemented by thematic analysis. Lecturers strongly perceived that principals aligned assessment with curriculum standards, promoted fairness and transparent communication, and supported formative assessment. Principals identified workload, limited time, budgetary constraints, inadequate space, and insufficient facilities as factors that reduced the depth of supervision and constrained authentic, performance-based assessment. The structural analysis indicated positive relationships between democratic leadership and assessment of learning and assessment as learning, whereas autocratic leadership was negatively associated with assessment for learning. The findings support the integration of assessment leadership into principal performance agreements, the protection of time for observation and moderation, and dedicated funding for practice-based assessment.

Keywords: classroom assessment; instructional leadership; distributed leadership; Colleges of Education; mixed methods; Ghana.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/17-8-02

Publication date: August 30th 2026