School factors as correlates of secondary students’ achievement in mathematics in Bungoma county, Kenya
Abstract
There is abundant research evidence to support the view that when
Mathematics is taught in an enabling environment, a lot of enjoyable learning takes place.
But in reality this is not always so, the implication is that students' achievement in this
subject still continue to dwindle. This study therefore aimed at finding the extent to which
school factors predict secondary school students' achievement in Mathematics. The study
adopted the descriptive survey research design of the ex-post facto type and made use of a
sample of 206 Mathematics teachers and 206 principals selected through a multi-stage
sampling procedure. Instruments were developed and validated for the study. The two
validated instruments used were School-based Inventory (r = 0.89) and School-Based
Factor Questionnaire (r = 0.92). Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of
significance. Data collected were analyzed using means, standard deviation and multiple
regressions. Out of the nine variables, the two variables that contributed significantly to
student’s achievement in Mathematics are conveniences and instructional materials (ß =
0.130, t = 2.381, P < 0.05), (ß = 0.134, t = 2.470; P < 0.05) respectively. Findings from the
study showed that instructional materials and conveniences (toilets) have been adjudged to
have contributed significantly to students’ achievement in Mathematics. Therefore,
ministry of education and other stakeholders should ensure that schools are provided with
effective and adequate toilet facilities. It is also recommended that instructional resources
should be provided in schools as the conditions accrued to school factors improve, the
performance of students in Mathematics improves. Recommendations were made based
on these findings.
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