Trend Analysis Of Academic Achievement Among Primary School Pupils In Mumoni District, Kitui County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Provision of quality education is a major concern for countries in the world today (UN declaration 1948).This explains why knowledge of the factors that affect academic achievement is vital to educationists, teachers, parents and learners. The performance of pupils at grade 8 continues to be discouraging in Mumoni district with no student getting 400 marks in KCPE in public schools for the last three years. This raises the question: what can the schools and communities do to increase the learning that takes place in schools? The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of academic achievement of pupils at primary school level in Mumoni district. The objectives of this study were to determine the trend of academic achievement among primary school pupils in Mumoni district, determine extend to which school processes affect academic achievement of pupils in Mumoni district, determine extent to which school resources affects learning of pupils in the district and lastly to determine the extent to which pupils characteristics affect academic achievement in Mumoni district. This study will help in improving the implementation process of primary school curriculum by identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the process of implementation. The study was built on the expectancy theory by Harkman (1997) which posits that motivation is a force in a person to perform a task. A descriptive survey design was used in the study. Academic achievement of pupils was the depended variable and independent variables included; school processes, resources, student characteristics and time. The study targeted a population of 1,969 standard seven pupils in Mumoni district. A purposive sampling was used to sample 100 pupils. Questionnaires and observation schedules were used as instruments of data collection. Experts in the field of economics of education of Kenyatta University were used to advise on content validity of the questionnaires developed. The reliability of instrument was measured by test –retest technique and piloting done using 10 grade seven pupils who were not part of the sampled population. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected, analyzed and presented inform of graphs, percentages, pie charts and frequency distribution tables. Findings indicated that there was a positive trend of performance in continuous evaluation tests, performance in KCPE was blow the class means obtained from standard 7, school processes was found wanting because teaching commenced very late after opening schools, there was acute shortage of text books in almost 40% of schools and 90% of the parents did not play their role well in providing education to their children. In conclusion, there was a normal curve in performance, but school process, resources and pupils’ characteristics was wanting in achieving academic heights of pupils in learning. The study recommended for a follow up on different vote heads by the government, open forums with parents for education awareness and interactive education provision by all stakeholders. This study recommends further study on how the education offices interact with schools and community to provide education in the district.