Effect Of Parental Socio-Economic Status On Students’ Academic Performance In Secondary Schools In Bungoma County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of selected parental Socio-Economic Status (SES) on Academic Performance (AP) of students in Secondary Schools in Cheptais Sub-county of Bungoma County in Kenya. The objectives of this study were: ascertain the correlation between parents‟ income and children‟s academic performance, examine the correlation between parents‟ educational level and children‟s academic performance and establish the correlation between parents‟ occupation and children‟s academic performance in Cheptais sub-county secondary schools. A total of 15 head teachers, 26 class teachers, 15 guidance and counseling staff and 820 form four students in the sub-county constituted the population. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select eight schools of the fifteen Schools in the district. Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) sampling formula was used to select the respondents of the study. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 15 students from each of the sampled schools, to give a sample size of 120 students and 8 head teachers, 8 class teachers and 8 guiding and counseling staff. The study was limited to form four students of the existing public schools in the sub county because the standardized results of the sub county joint evaluation test they sat for. Data was collected through three sets of questionnaires for students, teachers and head teachers.. Further, correlation and regression analysis were used to establish the significance and relationship between the variables of the study. The findings of this study were that the level of parent‟s education impacted on the student academic performance, parental income affected on the student academic performance and parental occupation also affected on the student academic performance. The study therefore concluded that parental income, parental education, and parental occupation were important antecedents of students‟ academic performance. In order to improve students‟ academic performance, it was recommended that the government should increase bursary allocation to needy students to retain them in school, the county to develop appropriate systems to enhance parental education and parents to be sensitized on the benefits of parental involvement in education.