Excerpt
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
MEASUREMENT OF PERFORMANCE IN DAY SCHOOLS
PERFORMANCE IN NATIONAL EXAMINATION IN TERMS OF MEAN SCORE
PERFORMANCE OF DAY SCHOOLS IN TERMS OF THOSE QUALIFIED TO JOIN UNIVERSITY
PERFORMANCE IN KCSE
GRADES ATTAINED BY DAY SCHOOL STUDENTS
RESPONSE ON THE RATE OF DISCIPLINE
PARENTS CONCERNS ON THEIR CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCE
FREQUENCY OF THEIR VISIT TO SCHOOLS
FREQUENCY OF CHECKING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS BY PARENTS
FREQUENCY OF COMMUNITY AND SPONSORS VISIT AND SUPPORT TO THE SCHOOL
FACTORS WHICH GENERALLY AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF DAY SCHOOLS
SOCIAL FACTORS WHICH AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF DAY SCHOOLS
POLITICAL FACTORS WHICH AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF SCHOOLS
OTHER FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY DAY SCHOOLS
POLICIES TO BE ADOPTED BY DAY SCHOOLS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE OF DAY SCHOOLS
CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
ABSTRACT
In the current National Development Plan 2010-2015, the government is committed to providing efficient and affordable education. It intends to improve access, quality, relevance and management of secondary education. To achieve this, one of the strategies is to encourage the establishment of more day secondary schools. The study examined the factors affecting academic achievement in day secondary schools in Eldoret Municipality. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, six specific research objectives were addressed: to find out how day secondary schools students perform academically, to investigate whether day secondary schools have the required facilities, to find out the attitude of teachers and students towards day secondary schools, to determine challenges faced by day secondary schools students in attaining academic achievement and to suggest mechanisms for bringing about improvement in the academic performance of day secondary schools. The data for this study was collected from primary and secondary sources. The research instruments were questionnaire, observation and interviews schedule. The research design was validated by experts in the subject area including the supervisor. Descriptive survey research was used to get information on the effects of day secondary schools on academic achievement. Fifteen (15) secondary schools were randomly selected to form the study sample. The findings of the study showed that students perform very poorly, majority of secondary day students get an average grade of C. On the adequacy of infrastructural facilities for day secondary schools, the finding indicted that most secondary day school lack enough learning facilities which in turn have made the school perform poorly in academic achievement. It was established from the study that teachers have a negative attitude toward day students and regarded them as academically, socially and their morals are low, that their parents are not concern about their future. The findings showed that religious affiliation and peer influence as the most predominant social factors which influence the performance of day schools. While the challenges facing secondary day schools include tribal and church politics, poor living standards and unconcern parents. Based on the findings of this study the researcher recommends the followings recommendations: the need for learning environment in day secondary schools in Kenya to be given priority attention by the government so that students can learn well. There is need for headmaster of day secondary schools to conduct periodic inventories of their textbooks, teaching aids and materials, and adopt policies for the acquisition of adequate and up-to-date textbooks and teaching materials. Administrators should provide seminars geared towards “moral recovery” for all teachers and other employees of their schools Government should create the means by which students can join the secondary school of their interests and counseling in preparation for examinations are also vital to the students’ academic performances. Students’ study habits and attitudes could be improved by orientations, guidance and counseling, holding friendly competitions in various academic subjects, encouraging membership in academic subjects clubs, and the monitoring of the study habits of children by parents.
Key words : Academic drive, Academic motivation, Achievement Test and Day scholars/day student/ Day schools
INTRODUCTION
The government’s concern for education has led it to think of ways of making education accessible and affordable. The government realizes the importance of education in its economic development. Education is a process by which man transmits his experiences, new findings, and values accumulated over the years, in his struggle for survival and development through generations. Education enables individuals and society to make an all round participation in the developmental process, by acquiring knowledge, ability, skills and attitudes.
Education is one of the critical sources to the alleviation of poverty. A low level of formal education has been linked to employment in low wage earning jobs (Miller, 1998). According to Miller, although having a high school, post high school, and even college education does not guarantee getting a high paying job, educational attainment is one of the most significant things an individual can do to keep from being poor. He also adds that higher levels of education narrow the income gap across gender and ethnic lines.
Different researchers have made attempts to identify the factors that affect students’ performance in secondary school and tertiary institutions. Anderson et al. (1994) conclude that students who received better scores in high schools also perform better in college and men had better grades than women. Borg and Shapiro (1996) said that a student would do better in class where the student and teacher had similar learning styles. On the other hand, Topping (1994) had found that sitting at the back of the classroom and absences from classes negatively affect the performance of the student. According to Topping an increase of one percent in absences will reduces the score of the final examination by 0.043%. There are also different researchers who indicate that if a student develops negative attitude towards the course and/or towards the instructor from the beginning or before the beginning of the class, his/her performance in the course will be lowered.
The findings cited above might have contributed a lot to research on the education system at different levels. They are, however, very limited as they generalize on the performance of students in secondary schools. Some considered only one department in a university. Others considered the performance of students in the first year of the freshman program in which the problem of adjustment to the institutions is compounded with other factors, and still others have limited the factors for consideration (Fentaw, 2001). Student's performance is, however, affected by multiple factors and should not also be confined to one semester performance. To reach a valid generalization on students’ performance, we need to consider different multiple factors. This study, therefore, is expected to fill the gaps.
The government’s concern for education has led it to think of ways of making education accessible and affordable. The Government realizes the importance of education in its economic development. In the current National Development Plan 2010-2015, the Government is addressing the issue of making education and training affordable and accessible. In the secondary sector the government plans to increase entry from primary school to secondary school from 40% to 70%. Looking at the cost of boarding secondary school of about Ksh 22,900 per year as minimum cost, day schools may be cheaper and more affordable for most parents. This might enable many parents to take their children to secondary school and might enable the government to achieve its goal of increasing entry from primary to secondary school.
In an attempt to achieve its objectives, the government has recommended the establishment of more day secondary schools. The day schools are cheaper and so more affordable for some families which would have otherwise had their children staying at home after completing standard eight and achieving the required marks to join secondary school.
The Government is spending 40% of its income on the education sector according to Republic of Kenya (1988). Since 2003 with the introduction of free primary education the expenditure of the education sector has gone up. The Government has also increased bursaries to the secondary school sector. The Government is spending a lot on education and so it becomes necessary that after the cost, the student gets good results.
Parents also sacrifice a lot to enable the child to go through the four years of secondary school. In the 1980s, the government shifted funding of school projects to parents and so increased the cost of education. It is the responsibility of the parents to supplement government efforts to provide physical facilities like classrooms, dormitories, and offices through PTA (Parent Teacher Associations). It is therefore necessary that after incurring these costs, the parents should be rewarded through good academic results by their children. This research sought to investigate the factors affecting academic achievement in day secondary schools in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Academic achievement is the main goal of a school’s existence. The government puts a lot of emphasis on academic performance. That is why the administering and examination period is a very important period and many things are put in place to ensure the national exams are done in a conducive environment and marking is also standard. In the marking and awarding of marks, no consideration is given whether a student is in a day or boarding institution.
Eldoret Municipality has 62 schools that have done KCSE and out of these 23 schools are day schools. There are eight more schools with classes between form 1-3 and all of them are day schools. Looking at the Mock results for July 2004 and KCSE results of 2003, only three and two day schools respectively appeared in the top ten positions. There are many factors that could have contributed to this performance. The factors include inadequate facilities, management, discipline of the students and motivation level. The other problem could be the attitude of the students towards day schools perceiving them as at a lower level than boarding schools. This will affect their self-concept and motivation. In some cases students who have qualified for national or provincial schools may have been forced to go to day schools in their home areas because the parents cannot afford boarding fees. It will then be important to look at these factors and see if they affect the motivation and academic performance in day schools. It is also important to look at the social factors that affect day students like the issue of drop outs. Absence from class is a feature that is peculiar to day schools, as boarding schools are better able to enforce attendance. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the factors affecting academic achievement in day secondary schools in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study was to investigate the factors affecting academic achievement in day secondary schools in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya. Five specific research objectives were addressed;
(i) To find out how day secondary school students perform academically
(ii) To investigate whether day secondary schools have the required facilities
(iii) To find out the attitude of teachers and students towards day secondary schools
(iv) To determine challenges faced by day secondary school students in attaining academic achievement
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