DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED TESTING MODEL: CASE STUDY OF THE WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL AND CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS

Examination bodies wield great powers that could be harnessed to catalyze positive development. It is against this backdrop that the Development Oriented Testing [DOT] model was conceived. The questions addressed were: do the examination bodies realize the enormity of the power they have? If they do, to what extent are they pragmatically using this power to catalyze productivity and development in their domain of control? The case study and ex post facto research designs were adopted in this study. Comparative analysis of past West African Secondary School Certificate Examination [WASSCE] and General Certificate of Secondary Examination [IGCSE] was conducted. The outcome of the content analysis revealed that there were remarkable differences in the higher educational objectives examined in Cambridge and WAEC O-level examinations. Cambridge examinations furnished more application questions than WAEC examinations. It is therefore recommended that the Development Oriented Testing [DOT] Model should be adopted to redress this situation