| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of institutional and
learners’ characteristics on students’ academic achievement in day secondary
schools in Trans-Nzoia and West Pokot Counties in Kenya. Globally,
institutional and learners’ characteristics have been the subject of on-going
debate as reflected, for example, in the effective schools movement in the
United States of America. The debate has prompted national as well as local
scholars to focus on improvement of academic achievement among learners in
different categories of schools. The study sought to establish the influence of
teachers attitude towards day schooling, professional qualifications, teaching
experience, adequacy of learning resources and student-teacher ratio and
learners’ attitude towards day schooling, entry behaviour from the primary
school level, gender and study time management and parental level of
education (institutional and learners’ characteristics) on students’ academic
achievement. The target population consisted of 30 head teachers, 240
teachers, 2,560 Form Four learners, totalling 2,830. Stratified sampling
procedure was used to identify a sample size of 384 learners had a response
rate of 374 and 79 teachers, while 30 head teachers were automatically
selected. Head teachers were sampled because of their knowledge of selected
characteristics that was necessary for the study. Ex-post facto and correlational
designs were employed. Questionnaires for learners and teachers, an
interview schedule for head teachers, and a document analysis guide were used
to collect data. Instruments’ reliability was established through the split-half
technique, yielding reliability coefficients of 0.8 and 0.75 for learners and
teachers instrument respectively. The validity of the instruments was
established through the pre-test. Descriptive statistics such as means and
standard deviation and inferential statistics, Chi - Square interactive, t-test and
multiple regression were used to analyse data. The study established that most
learners had a favourable attitude towards day schooling which influenced the
learners’ academic achievement positively. The results further showed that
entry behaviour (mean Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) score)
and study time utilisation, significantly influenced the learners’ academic
achievement. Given the positive attitude towards day schooling by learners and
teachers, the study recommended strengthening of the policy on construction of
day secondary schools in most primary schools, hence reducing the cost of
education, while improving the KCSE performance of day scholars. Secondly,
the Ministry of Education, should formulate a policy that will help create
private study time for learners in day schools. Further, the criteria for
determining entry behaviour for secondary schools should be strengthened to
provide for high mixed ability classes for qualified KCPE graduates. In light
of the findings, the study suggested that a comparative study could be
undertaken in private secondary schools to establish the influence of the
institutional and learners’ characteristics on academic achievement. | en_US |
