Influence of parents' socio-economic background on students' KCSE performance in public secondary schools in Kibwezi district, Makueni county, Kenya

Abstract

(This study aims at investigating the influence of parents' socio-economic background on their children's academic performance in KCSE examination. The main objective of the study is to find out how different socio-economic factors affect students' KCSE performance in public secondary schools in Kibwezi District. This study will also propose measures that can be taken to boost KCSE performance such as teacher/student motivation, the government proposed free KCSE registration, remedial teaching, Continuous Assessment Tests and so on. Understanding the effects of socio-economic status on academic performance is important in determining effective and valid testing for all secondary school students. Understanding the influence of parents' socioeconomic background on students' KCSE performance can assist educators in determining instructional strategies that best fit each individual student. However, the influence of parents' socio-economic background on students' KCSE performance has not been clearly understood. This therefore limits the ability of education stakeholders to improve students' performance in KCSE. The study will employ a descriptive survey design. This type of design is most appropriate because it enables the use of descriptive statistics and explanations for analysis. The target population for this study will constitute 50 public secondary schools in Kibwezi District, 5 Form four class teachers representing all the five sampled schools and 10 subject teachers from the 5 sampled schools. The sample size will comprise of 40 respondents. All the principals and 5 Form four class teachers of the sampled 5 schools will be purposively included in the sample of respondents. The study will use data sourced from Form One admission records and KCSE Results Nominal Roll for data analysis. Questionnaires and interview schedules will be used as data collection instruments. KCSE Results Nominal Roll and leaners' Form One admission records on parents' socio-economic status in the sampled schools will be used to source data. School records on drop out and transfer cases to low cost schools will also be used to find out whether there exists any relationship between such cases and parents' socio-economic status. In order to ensure reliability of instruments, questions in the questionnaires and interview schedules will be pre-tested to ensure consistency in measurement. Data obtained will be cleaned, coded and organized using Scientific Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0). Findings will be presented in form of tables and figures, interpretation and discussion of the findings will be done. Afterwards, conclusion and recommendations will be drawn.