Thesis:

Principals’ management practices on Kenya certificate of secondary examination (KCSE) performance in Mwea west sub-county, Kenya.

Globally, there have been deliberate efforts to reduce, if not eliminate, the use of drugs and substances among students by government agencies such as NACADA, the Ministry of Education (MOE), and school management boards, among other agencies of good faith. However, the prevalence of drug use among students is still on the rise. Therefore, this study aimed to assess principals’ management strategies on drugs and substance abuse and their influence on KCSE performance in Mwea West Sub- County, Kirinyaga County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine the principals' goal-setting activities, to determine principals’ goal setting practices in curbing drug and substance abuse, to determine principals’ information and analysis practices on drug and substance abuse, to examine principals’ intervention practices on drug and substance abuse and, to examine the principals’ evaluation practices to curb drugs and substance abuse among students in Mwea West Sub- County, Kirinyaga County. The study adopted a descriptive research design to accomplish the research objectives. The target population for the study consisted of secondary school students, school principals, deputy principals, guiding and counseling (G&C) teachers, class teachers and 2 officers:1 QASO and 1 TSC Director in Mwea West Sub- County. Random sampling techniques were used to select 377 students, 13 school principals, 13 G&C teachers and 13 class teachers resulting in a total sample of 405 respondents. A structured questionnaire served as the main tool for data collection. The data collected was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 25) and presented using tables, graphs, and pie charts. The findings showed that the goal-setting practices of the principals and benchmarking of performance were paramount in recognizing performance problems, although the collection and analysis of information broadly informed intervention measures. To this effect, 87.2% of the respondents recognized performance comparisons in indicating weaknesses, while 77.0% stressed the Guidance and Counseling Department as instrumental in addressing personal factors affecting performance. The regression analysis result was R² = 0.400, indicating that 40% of the variations in the management of substance abuse and its effects on KCSE performance were due to evaluation methods. The results of ANOVA were statistically significant with p = 0.000, thus validating the evaluation methods. Additionally, 87.1% of the respondents acknowledged that substance abuse negatively affects academic performance, while 89.8% recognized the effectiveness of anti-drug programs. The recommendations include training principals on SMART goal-setting, implementing strong anti- drug programs in every school, strengthening the Guidance and Counseling departments, and efficiently allocating resources. Future studies should assess the contribution of peer influence and social networks to substance abuse behaviors among students. This study underscores the importance of holistic school strategies for improving academic performance and effectively reducing substance abuse.