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The study investigated factors affecting academic performance in secondary schools
in Trans-Nzoia West District. The study was guided by the following objectives: to
establish the school factors, individual and home factors that affect the academic
performance of students. In addition, the study sought to establish whether rural or
urban environment influenced the academic performance of students. The theory that
guided this study was derived from the Education function by Monk, (1992). The
education production function assumes that inputs determine the output of an
education system. Monk (1992) describes production function analysis as the relating
of an input measure to an output using correlation of multivariate analysis. The key
variables in this study were the factors that affect performance. The independent
variables in this study were family, school, environmental and student factors that
affect students' performance in secondary schools. In this study the dependent
variable was students' academic performance. The study targeted ten
principals/managers, teachers, students, who gave data on the different inputs into
performance from their areas of operation as its population. Multi-stage sampling
procedure was used to select the sample in this study. The schools were selected using
stratified sampling. Two of the schools were four streamed, three were triple
streamed, and three were double streamed while two were single streamed schools.
The students were sampled purposively. Form three students were purposely used as
they were well acquainted to the school and environment. A sample size of 159
respondents was used. This included 10 principals, 51 teachers and 98 students. The
data collected was qualitative and quantitative. Questionnaires and interviews were
used in data collection. The raw data was categorized through coding and tabulation.
Editing was done to improve the quality of the included percentages and frequencies.
The study established that school factors greatly contribute to the academic
performance of the students. The presence of a well-stocked library, relevant and
sufficient text books, well trained teachers with pedagogical skills, spacious
classrooms are factors that can contribute to good academic performance. Therefore,
secondary schools whether public or private should endeavor to have well stocked
library, enough reference books, textbooks, trained teachers with pedagogical skills
who will give students enough time, and classrooms that are spacious |
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