Formative and Summative Evaluation Practices for the Intermediate Mathematics Teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate and analyze the formative and summative evaluation practices related to homework, classroom discussion and non- traditional examination practices that were implemented by mathematics teachers in the intermediate school. Also, it aimed to investigate the relationships of teachers’ gender, classroom size, and number of training courses, as well as exploring the obstacles that may face teachers when using evaluation methods. The study instrument consisted of 106 items related to formative and summative evaluation practices. The data were collected from 203 mathematics teachers from intermediate schools. The results Showed a set of common practices in formative evaluation related to homework, classroom discussion, and non- traditional examination methods, as well as summative evaluation practices related to testing process. The results revealed a significant statistical differences (∞= 0.05) in the formative evaluation practices due to gender and class size, while it did not show a statistical significant difference due to the training courses. The results also showed statistical significant differences in summative evaluation practices due to the size of the class but did not show significant statistical differences due to teachers’ gender and training courses. The study concluded with recommendations for teachers to attend more training in formative evaluation methods, authentic evaluation, and summative evaluation practices related to testing process as well as learning new techniques in evaluating large-size classes. The study recommends decision makers in the Ministry of Education to adopt policies that consider non-traditional examination practices in the students’ final score.