Effect of school based factors on learners’ academic achievement in mathematics in public mixed day secondary schools in Marigat Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Mathematics forms foundation of both scientific and technological knowledge. It determines learners career options in tertiary education and beyond. Kenya National Examination Council reveals that national learners‘ achievement in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Mathematics examination since 2019 to 2023 has been a mean grade of D and below. Similarly, in Marigat Sub County, Mathematics mean grade between 2019 and 2023 was D minus. Learners in Marigat Sub-County are achieving a low mean grade. This study, therefore, sought to investigate the effect of school-based factors on learners‘ academic achievement in mathematics in public mixed day secondary schools in Marigat Sub-County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: establish the effect of learning environment factors, the curriculum implementation factors, the teacher related factors, and learner related factors on academic achievement in mathematics in public mixed day secondary schools in Marigat Sub County. The study utilized the Gagne's Theory (1985) which holds that event in the surrounding influence the process of learning. The study adopted a mixed methods research design. The target population was 616 subjects comprising 18 principals, 44 mathematics teachers and 554 form four learners from 18 public mixed day secondary schools in Marigat Sub County. The study utilized purposive and simple random sampling techniques in selecting the sample for the study. Twelve (12) schools were purposively selected from the target population of 18 public mixed day secondary schools. All the 12 principals of the schools were included in the study while simple random sampling was used to select 24 mathematics teachers and 120 learners which made a sample of 156 respondents. Data was collected by a questionnaire, an interview schedule, and document analysis. Reliability of research instruments was ensured by using internal consistency which yielded a Cronbach‘s alpha of 0.861 and test re-test methods where the questionnaire for teachers had a reliability coefficient of 0.791 while the questionnaire for students had a reliability coefficient of 0.812 which surpassed the commonly accepted threshold of 0.70. Validity was tested using content, construct and face validity. Content validity index yielded an index of 0.861 against the set threshold of 0.8. Analysis of data was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of the statistical package for social science (SPSS). For descriptive statistics, frequency and percentages were used while Pearson‘s correlation and regression analysis were used for inferential statistics. The regression analysis revealed that learning environment factors (r= 0.054, p= 0.560) and (β= .056. p>0.05) do not have a significant effect on mathematics achievement in public mixed day secondary schools in Marigat Sub-County. However, curriculum implementation factors (r= 0.551, p<.05) (β= .530. p<0.05), teacher-related factors (r= 0.308, p=.001), (β= .158, p<.05) and learner-related factors (r=0.466, p<.05), (β= .243, p<.05) have a significant and positive effect on mathematics achievement. Based on the findings from regression analysis, the study recommends investment in teaching infrastructure and resources, improvement of teacher staffing level, establishment of remedial classes for struggling learners, encouraging active learning strategies that are learners centred and exposing learners to successful role models.