Teacher Quality and Students’ Academic Performance in Selected Public Secondary Schools in Ngororero District, Rwanda

ABSTRACT The study investigated “Teacher Quality and Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in Ngororero District, Rwarida”. In carrying out the research, the study determined the profile of; degree of teachers’ quality; the level of students’ academic performance; the relationship between level of teacher quality and the level of performance. The study employed descriptive correlation design and had a sample size of 132 teachers derived from a population of 202 teachers and primary data were used to determine each school’s students’ academic performance degree in consecutive 2011 and 2012 academic years national examination results. The sampling was done by purposive sampling technique and the research instruments used the questionnaire. Validity of the instruments was determined by the use of content validity index and test-retest. Data analysis was done by the use of SPSS and all the ethical considerations were considered in this study. The research findings indicated that teacher quality in professionalism was high (mean=2.68); teachers’ level of knowledge of subject matter was also found to be high (2.90); the level of teachers’ pedagogical expertise was also found to be high (mean=2.89); teachers’ interaction within the school, with families and the community was also found to be high (mean=2.99). The level of academic performance in the secondary schools was noted to be very high (mean=3.26); for the years 2Olland 2012. Therefore, the findings revealed that there is no significant correlation between Teacher Quality and Students’ Academic Performance (r-value=0.068; Sig. = 0.149) which resulted in accepting the null hypothesis (that there is no significant correlation between teacher quality and performance).The study recommends that different stakeholders of Ministry of education of Rwanda should try to work together to ensure that different measures are in place to promote academic performance.