Analysis of mathematics assessment items and their relation to students performance in upper secondary schools:Case of Kamonyi District, Rwanda

Abstract

This study aimed to analyse mathematics assessment items and their relation to students’ performance in upper secondary schools of Kamonyi District, Rwanda. The study was guided by three objectives: (1) to analyse the cognitive levels of mathematics assessment items set by teachers at the school level using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, (2) to examine the relationship between students’ performance in school-level and district-level mathematics assessments, and (3) to explore how the cognitive levels reflected in mathematics assessment items set by teachers at school level relate to students’ performance in mathematics assessment at District level. A mixed-methods approach with a comparative correlational design was used. The study involved a purposive sample of three schools out of thirty-seven in two sectors of Kamonyi District. Therefore, the findings may not be generalisable to the entire district. Data were collected from six teacher-set mathematics assessment papers and corresponding students’ scores from the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 academic years using a document analysis checklist and a performance data sheet. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis to determine the cognitive levels of mathematics assessment items, while quantitative data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 through comparative and correlational techniques. Qualitative analysis revealed that most assessments (five out of six) focused on lower-order thinking skills (LOTS), addressing the first objective. For the second objective, quantitative analysis showed a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.405, p = 0.000) between school-level and district-level performance. Regarding the third objective, results indicated that students exposed to a balance of lower-order thinking skills (LOTS) and higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) performed better at the district level. The study concluded that the cognitive levels of mathematics assessments significantly affects students’ academic performance and recommended that teachers should incorporate both lower and higher-order thinking tasks to enhance students’ preparedness and outcomes in district-level assessments.