| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of principals’ management of resources on students performance at KCSE in Kenya with special reference to public secondary schools in Samburu County. The objectives of the study were to: determine the influence of principal’s educational personnel management on students performance in KCSE; to determine the influence of principals’ instructional materials management on student performance in KCSE; assess the influence of principal’s educational facilities management on student performance at KCSE and establish the influence of principal’s educational finances management on student performance in KCSE. The study was guided by the education production function (EPF) theory that was originally proposed by Coleman in 1966 to relate various inputs affecting students’ learning and to measure output which includes standardized test scores. The research employed a survey design targeting all public secondary schools’ principals and teachers. Data was collected in County and Sub-county public secondary schools in Samburu County. The target respondents comprised of 40 principals and 400 teachers from the 40 public secondary schools in Samburu County. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 12 principals and 120 teachers for the study. Of the targeted respondents, 90 teachers and 12 principals responded, a total of 102 respondents giving a questionnaire return rate of 87.5%. Questionnaires and an interview guide were used for data collection. Prior to the actual data collection, a pilot study was conducted to ascertain the reliability and validity of the instruments. The study gathered both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages. Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient, t-test and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the statistical data. Qualitative data was put under themes consistent with the research objectives t-test results revealed that, in comparison with bottom performing schools, top performing schools were putting more emphasis on the four correlates; educational personnel, Instructional materials, physical facilities and educational finance. Similarly, Pearson Correlation Coefficient analysis revealed significant positive correlations between the KCSE mean deviations (2011-2015) and the four correlates. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the four correlates of effective resource management explained 11.5% of the variation in KCSE performance among the sampled schools. The study could only be used to give recommendations that secondary schools should put emphasis on four correlates of resource management that were identified to positively influence academic performance | en_US |
