THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL [...]

The overall education goal of the Government of Kenya is to achieve education for all (EFA) by giving every Kenyan access to quality education and training irrespective of one™s socio-economic status. In Gucha Sub-County however, the quality of education in secondary schools, as measured by students™ performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination, has continued to be poor over the years. This poor performance has been attributed to several factors such as; learners' entry behaviour or ability, parents™ influence on learners, motivation of learners and teachers, learners' environment, Government education policy and school principal™s leadership style, among others. This study investigated the relationship between school principals™ leadership styles and students™ performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in public secondary schools in Gucha Sub-County. The study used a correlational research design to collect and analyse data from 294 respondents selected through stratified and simple random sampling from 14 public Sub-County secondary schools in Gucha Sub-County. The target population consisted of all public Sub-County secondary school teachers and students in the Sub-County. Two instruments were used to collect data after ascertaining their validity and reliability. These instruments included; two questionnaires; one for teachers and the other for students. The questionnaires used the Likert scale in rating the responses. Both instruments had a reliability coefficient of 0.8 at an alpha level set a priori at 0.05. The data collected was analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 19.0 for windows .The Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the null hypothesis of no relationship at 0.05α level of significance, based on the guidelines given by Ruth Ravid. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between school principals™ leadership styles and students™ performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (KCSE). The study was significant because its results might help in the process of working out strategies for improving school leadership qualities in the Sub-County and hence performance of students in KCSE. In view of the above findings, the following recommendations were made; school principals to be in-serviced on leadership styles that may motivate the learners and teachers towards better students™ performance.
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