An Investigation Into Factors Influencing Students’ Academic Performance In Public Secondary Schools In Matungulu Sub-County, Machakos County

ABSTRACT

The study sought to investigate factors which influence students‟ academic performance in public

secondary schools in Matungulu sub-county, Machakos County. The study was guided by the

following research objectives; to establish the influence of learning resources on students‟ academic

performance, to assess the influence of administrative practices on students‟ academic performance,

to investigate the influence of teacher related factors on students‟ academic performance and to

analyze the influence of the students‟ socio-economic background on academic performance. The

study employed descriptive survey research design. The study targeted all the 2,300 form three

students, all the 385 teachers and all the 32 principals in public secondary school in Matungulu subcounty.

However, the sample size included 230 students, 40 teachers and all principals (10) of the

participating schools. Stratified random sampling technique was used to allocate and sample the

actual schools in various school categories. Simple random sampling technique was also used to

select the 230 participating students and four teachers in each of the 10 public secondary schools in

Matungulu sub-county participating in this study. All the principals (10) from all the 10

participating schools were purposively sampled. Three sets of instruments were used to collect data.

These included the students‟ questionnaire (SQ); the teachers‟ questionnaire (TQ) and the

principals‟ questionnaire (PQ). Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20, ANOVA

and regression were used in data analysis. Tables and figures were used to present the analyzed

data. The findings of the study revealed that the learning resources were inadequate and hence

affected academic performance to a great extent. The study also revealed that the influence of

administrative practices on academic performance was strongly positive and significant (r = .844,

P≤ 0.5) and similarly, teacher related factors and socio economic background of the learners had a

statistically significant influence on academic performance (P≤ 0.5). The study recommended

among others that principals should intensify the routine checking of professional records by

teachers to ensure adherence to the dictates of the professional records and that head teachers and

the school management should ensure that relevant