Assessment Policy Implementation, Teacher Assessment Literacy, and Student Achievement in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria

This study examines the implementation of national assessment policy, the mediating role of teacher assessment literacy, and their joint influence on student academic achievement in senior secondary schools across Nigeria, with primary fieldwork in Lagos, Kano, Rivers, and Enugu states. Assessment policy in Nigerian secondary education has undergone significant reform in recent years through WAEC and NECO frameworks, yet the translation of policy into coherent, literacy-based teacher assessment practice and its consequences for student achievement remains poorly understood. The study employs a multi-level sequential mixed-methods design. Phase one uses survey data from 960 teachers and 2,400 students from 48 schools analysed through three-level hierarchical linear modelling, with assessment literacy as a school-level mediator of the policy-achievement relationship. Phase two embeds qualitative policy ethnography in eight schools. Data instruments include the Teacher Assessment Literacy Inventory, the Assessment Policy Implementation Quality Scale, and students' external examination results. The study draws on Black and Wiliam's Assessment Literacy Theory, Spillane's Implementation Framework, and Bernstein's Pedagogic Recontextualisation Model. Findings are expected to demonstrate that teacher assessment literacy fully mediates the relationship between policy implementation quality and student achievement, with significant between-school and between-state variation. Original theoretical contributions include a National Assessment Policy-to-Practice Pathway Model for Nigerian secondary education. Recommendations target the Federal Ministry of Education, WAEC, NECO, and teacher education institutions on building assessment literacy as a national teacher competency standard. Keywords: assessment policy, teacher assessment literacy, student achievement, Nigeria, policy implementation