Effects of Principals' Goal Setting Activities in Curbing Drug And Substance Abuse And its Influence on National Examinations Performance in Secondary Schools in Mwea West Sub-County, Kirinyaga County

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the influence of principals' goal-setting activities in curbing drug and substance abuse and its influence on national examination performance in secondary schools in Mwea West Sub-County, Kirinyaga County. A descriptive research design was employed, and a total of 405 subjects comprising students, school principals, and guiding and counseling teachers, as well as the Quality and Standards Officers were selected using stratified sampling. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, which was analyzed in SPSS version 25. The regression analysis revealed that principals' activities linked to the conduction of goals, information gathering and analysis, intervention methods, and appraisal methods accounted for 54.4% of the variation in the capture of drug and substance abuse as well as its effect on students' performance in national exams. The dependent variable was significantly (p = 0.016) regressed on the predictor variables, which represents at least one of the predictor variables affecting the response variable. With the coefficient, it was apparent that the principal's setting goals, accuracy in information, interventional approaches, and appraisal methods correlated with the decline in the extent of drug and substance abuse and its contribution to the poor scores in the national examination. Among these, information collection and analysis showed the highest correlation (standardized coefficient = 0.497), which was followed by the principals' goal-setting activities (0.316); thereby, intervention methods (0.181) and appraisal methods (0.200) ranked fifth and fourth, respectively. Based on these results, the following was suggested: undertake training for principals, organize workshops for seminars, implement the drug program, and improve guidance and counseling services in schools to adequately prevent drug abuse.