Continuous assessment and educational performance: Insights from higher education in economics and business
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35564/jmbe.2026.0013Keywords:
Continuous assessment, academic performance, economic and business sciences, higher education, Bologna processAbstract
After the consolidation of continuous assessment as a characteristic element of the current university system, the main objective of this article is to analyze the influence of this assessment model on the academic performance of students. In order to meet this objective, a sample of 776 students from seven different subjects related to Economic and Business Sciences from five different study centers belonging to two Spanish universities was used. The main result obtained is that students who have followed the subject through continuous assessment obtain better performance in the subject. Moreover, this superior performance is present among both female and male students. The analysis has suggested the influence of the particular characteristics of the subject, and that the activities corresponding to the continuous evaluation should be adapted. Likewise, it has been verified that the type of assessment selected depends on the student's number of enrollment, but not on the academic year. Thus, by providing empirical evidence, this work contributes to forming a more solid state of the art on the importance of academic assessment.
References
Arribas, J. M. (2012). El rendimiento académico en función del sistema de evaluación empleado. RELIEVE- Revista Electrónica de Investigación y Evaluación Educativa, 18(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.7203/RELIEVE...2974
Bennett, R. E. (2011). Formative assessment: a critical review. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 18(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594x.2010.513678
Bruinsma, M., & Jansen, E. P. (2009). When will I succeed in my first‐year diploma? Survival analysis in Dutch higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 28(1), 99-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360802444396
Castejón Oliva, F. J., López Pastor, V. M., Julián Clemente, J. A., & Zaragoza Casterad, J. (2011). Evaluación formativa y rendimiento académico en la formación inicial del profesorado de Educación Física. 11(42), 328–346. https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/6714
Cubo Delgado, S., Martín Marín, B., & Ramos Sánchez, J. L. (2011). Métodos de investigación y análisis de datos en ciencias sociales y de la salud. Pirámide.
Curtis, S. M. (2011). Formative assessment in accounting education and some initial evidence on its use for instructional sequencing. Journal of Accounting Education, 29(4), 191-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2012.06.002
Day, I. N. Z., van Blankenstein, F. M., Westenberg, P. M., & Admiraal, W. F. (2018). Explaining individual student success using continuous assessment types and student characteristics. Higher Education Research and Development, 37(5), 937–951. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1466868
Dunn, K. E. y Mulvenon, S. W. (2009). A critical review of research on formative assessments: The limited scientific evidence of the impact of formative assessments in education. Practical Assessment and Research and Evaluation, 14(7), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.7275/jg4h-rb87
Durán Santomil, P., Maside Sanfiz, J. M., Cantorna Agra, S., & Rodeiro Pazos, D. (2013). ¿Es el nuevo sistema de evaluación del EEES realmente diferente del sistema tradicional?: un análisis empírico del rendimiento académico en una asignatura de contabilidad. Educade: Revista de Educación En Contabilidad, Finanzas y Administración de Empresas, 4, 77–96. https://doi.org/10.12795/EDUCADE.2013.i04.06
Fageda, X., & Nonell, R. (2014). Evaluación continua y rendimiento académico: Un análisis interdisciplinar. Revista d’Innovació Docent Universitària, 6, 1–8. https://raco.cat/index.php/RIDU/article/view/273648/361798
Florido de la Nuez, C., Jiménez González, J. L., & Santana Martín, I. (2011). Obstáculos en el camino hacia Bolonia: efectos de la implantación del Espacio Europeo de la Educación Superior (EEES) sobre los resultados académicos. Revista de Educación.
Fraile Aranda, A., López Pastor, V. M., Castejón Oliva, F. J., & Romero Martín, M. del R. (2013). La evaluación formativa en docencia universitaria y el rendimiento académico del alumnado. Aula Abierta, ISSN 0210-2773, Vol. 41, No 2, 2013, Págs. 23-34, 41(2), 23–34. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4239063&info=resumen&idioma=SPA
Fuertes Fuertes, I. et al. (2015). Do online quizzes enhance performance in a summative assessment? An experience in the area of Accounting. EDUCADE, (6), 35-57. https://doi.org/10.12795/EDUCADE.2015.i06.04
Gijbels, D., et al. (2005). The relationship between students' approaches to learning and the assessment of learning outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 75(1), 93–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173560
Healy, M. et al. (2014). Student views on assessment activities: Perspectives from their experience on an undergraduate programme. Accounting Education, 23(5), 467-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2014.949802
Hernández, R. (2012). Does continuous assessment in higher education support student learning? Higher Education, 64(4), 489–502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9506-7
Holmes, N. (2018). Engaging with assessment: Increasing student engagement through continuous assessment. Active Learning in Higher Education, 19(1), 23-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787417723230
Johansson, E., Kanapathippillai, S., Khan, A., & Dellaportas, S. (2023). Formative assessment in accounting: student perceptions and implications of continuous assessment. Accounting Education, 32(6), 597–625. https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2022.2091411
Karaman, P. (2021). The Effect of Formative Assessment Practices on Student Learning: A Meta-Analysis Study. International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 8(4), 801–817. https://doi.org/10.21449/ijate.870300
López-Pastor, V., & Sicilia-Camacho, A. (2017). Formative and shared assessment in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(1), 77-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1083535
Matamoros-Becerra, J. (2023). Análisis del desempeño del alumnado del grado de Economía participante en la evaluación continua. In Construyendo la educación del futuro en áreas de ingeniería, economía y STEM (pp. 705–721). Dykinson.
Meer, N. M., & Chapman, A. (2014). Assessment for confidence: Exploring the impact that low-stakes assessment design has on student retention. The International Journal of Management Education, 12(2), 186-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2014.01.003
Merello-Giménez, P. M., & Zorio-Grima, A. Z. (2017). Impact of students’ performance in the continuous assessment methodology through Moodle on the final exam. EDUCADE, (8), 57-68. https://doi.org/10.12795/EDUCADE.2017.i08.05
Molina Soria, M., Pascual Arias, C., & López Pastor, V. M. (2020). El rendimiento académico y la evaluación formativa y compartida en formación del profesorado. Alteridad: Revista de Educación, 15(2), 204–215. https://doi.org/10.17163/alt.v15n2.2020.05
Monforte García, G., & Farías Martínez, G. M. (2013). La evaluación continua, un incentivo que incrementa la motivación para el aprendizaje. Revista Iberoamericana de Evaluación Educativa, 6(2), 265–278. https://doi.org/10.15366/RIEE2013.6.2.014
Montolio, D., & Taberner, P. A. (2021). Gender differences under test pressure and their impact on academic performance: A quasi-experimental design. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 191, 1065–1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JEBO.2021.09.021
Morales, M., Salmerón, A., Maldonado, A. D., Masegosa, A. R., & Rumí, R. (2022). An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Continuous Assessment on the Final Exam Mark. Mathematics, 10(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/MATH10213994
Nie, N., Bent, D. H., & Hull, C. H. (1970). SPSS: Statistical package for the social sciences. McGraw-Hill.
Núñez-Peña, M. I., Suárez-Pellicioni, M., & Bono, R. (2016). Gender Differences in Test Anxiety and Their Impact on Higher Education Students’ Academic Achievement. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 228, 154–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SBSPRO.2016.07.023
Ortiz Martínez, E., Santos Jaén, J. M., & Marín Hernández, S. (2020). Evaluación continua en la enseñanza universitaria de la contabilidad. Revista de Investigación Educativa, RIE, ISSN-e 1989-9106, ISSN 0212-4068, Vol. 38, No 1 (Enero), 2020, Págs. 109-129, 38(1), 109–129. https://doi.org/10.6018/rie.329781
Paloposki, T., Virtanen, V., & Clavert, M. (2025). From a final exam to continuous assessment on a large Bachelor level engineering course. European Journal of Engineering Education, 50(1), 164–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2024.2334728
Perry, K., Meissael, K., & Hill, M. F. (2022). Rebooting assessment. Educational Research Review, 36, 100451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2022.100451
Poza-Lujan, J.L., Calafate, C. T., Posadas-Yague, J.-L., & Cano, J.-C. (2016). Assessing the Impact of Continuous Evaluation Strategies: Tradeoff Between Student Performance and Instructor Effort. IEEE Transactions on Education, 59(1), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2015.2418740
Reboredo, J. C. (2017). Do continuous assessment results affect final exam outcomes? Evidence from a microeconomics course. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences, 4(1), 88–101. https://doi.org/10.4995/MUSE.2017.6548
Rodríguez-Rincón, Y. R., Munárriz, A., & Magreñán-Ruiz, A. (2024). A new approach to continuous assessment: Moving from a stressful sum of grades to meaningful learning through self-reflection. The International Journal of Management Education, 22(3), 101072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2024.101072
Rubio Hurtado, M. J., & Berlanga Silvestre, V. (2012). Cómo aplicar las pruebas paramétricas bivariadas t y ANOVA en SPSS. REIRE, Revista d’Innovació i Recerca En Educació, 5(2), 83–100.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Shute, V.J. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 7(1),153-189. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654307313795
Universidad de Extremadura. (2020). Normativa de evaluación de las titulaciones oficiales de Grado y Máster de la Universidad de Extremadura. Diario Oficial de Extremadura (DOE), núm. 212, 3 de noviembre de 2020. https://doe.juntaex.es/pdfs/doe/2020/2120o/20062265.pdf
Universidad de Sevilla. (2010). Normativa reguladora de la evaluación y calificación de las asignaturas. Boletín Oficial de la Universidad de Sevilla (BOUS), núm. 9, 16 de octubre de 2009 (modificada por BOUS núm. 2, 18 de marzo de 2010). https://www.us.es/normativa/evaluacion-calificacion-asignaturas
Wilcoxon, F. (1945). Individual comparisons by ranking methods. Biometric Bulletin, 1(6), 80–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/3001968
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Management and Business Education

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
License terms at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode

