Comparative analysis of performance in secondary school summative examination in private and public day primary schools for proactive managerial planning in Maara district,Kenya.

Abstract

There has been a debate on the method used for form one placement. Many people argue that there should be a quota system that offers candidates from public primary school a better chance of joining national secondary schools. The purpose of the study was to make comparative analysis of performance in secondary school summative examination for students who attended private and those who attended public day schools for their primary school education for proactive managerial planning in Maara District. The study adopted correlation design. The targeted population was 23 boarding secondary schools in Maara District which have been in existence for more than four years. The study population comprised of 23 principals and 23 curriculum masters. Purposive, stratified random sampling was used to select 12 schools. The one National school and the one private school in the district were purposively selected. Stratified Random sampling was used to select 4 girls’ school, 2 Boys’ schools and 4 mixed schools. Data was collected using questionnaire, interview schedule and document analysis. Piloting of the questionnaire and interview schedule was done on a sample of 4 teachers in two secondary schools that were not involved in the final study. Test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the instruments. Reliability coefficient of 0.72 obtained with the principals’ questionnaires after reviewing the instrument was deemed reliable for the study. The findings revealed that there was a moderate relationship which was not statistically significant between the type of school attended and performance at KCSE examinations of individual students. There was strong, positive correlation between pupils’ scores in KCPE and performance at KCSE. The most significant school related factors influencing students’ performance in KCSE established included adequacy of instructional resources and the extent to which they are used, student extrinsic motivation, teacher-student ratio, teachers experience and pedagogy and school infrastructure. The most significant family related factors influencing students’ performance in KCSE that were established included parents’ level of education, parent s’ occupation and income, parents participation in school activities, parents ability to provide learning materials and family size (number of other siblings in school). The study established that the most significant student related factors influencing performance in KCSE included self-discipline and initiative, Class attendance/absenteeism, student intrinsic motivation, study habits, entry behavior (KCPE marks), type of friends a student associates with and completion of assignments and other learning tasks. The researcher therefore concluded that on average the type of primary school attended moderately reflected on a student’s future performance at KCSE examination and pupils’ scores in KCPE and performance at KCSE were correlated. Based on the study findings, the researcher recommends that the Ministry of Education provide the required instructional material, infrastructure and teachers to produce good quality graduates.