Analysis of Senior High School Mathematics Teacher Characteristics and Utilization of Assessment Practices (Published)

The study sought to examine mathematics teacher characteristics that influence their use of assessment procedures in teaching and learning. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and the participants were 88 senior high school mathematics teachers sampled from the randomly selected schools from the Sunyani municipality. A four point Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The internal consistencies of the various sections of the instrument ranged from 0.69 to 0.78. The data collected were analysed using the independent t-test and one-way of variance ANOVA. The results from the study showed that assessment practices were not influenced by teacher characteristics such as gender and years of teaching. It was however found that professionalism of the teacher and exposure to INSET on classroom assessment influenced the use of assessment in the classroom. The recommendations drawn are that teachers must be encouraged and supported to participate in in-service training which retrains them on the need to involve assessment practices in teaching and learning. It is also recommended that professional teachers must be recruited to teach all subjects especially mathematics.

Keywords: Assessment, Classroom Practice, Feedback, Teacher Characteristics

THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS ON DROP OUT OF STUDENTS FROM SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MARAKWET DISTRICT, KENYA. (Published)

The study examined the influence of teacher characteristics on drop out of students from public secondary schools. The researchers set out to establish the influence of the teacher characteristics on the drop out of students from secondary schools. The study was based on Tinto’s (1975) student integration model (SIM). The objectives of the study were to: establish the influence of lesson load and managerial responsibilities on dropout of learners, find out the extent to which teachers give attention to slow learners and finally to investigate the extent to which teachers check students work. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The respondents were 28 teachers drawn from 14 secondary schools. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the 14 schools. Purposive sampling was used to obtain 2 teachers who had stayed for the longest time in each of the selected schools. The reason for this was that those teachers who had stayed long in the selected schools had enough reasons as to why students drop out of school. A teacher questionnaire, head teacher interview schedules and documentary analysis were used to obtain necessary data for the study. The questionnaire was validated through test- retest technique. Data was analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS programme. Results from the study was tabulated in frequency tables and converted to percentages. The independent variable was teacher characteristic while the dependent variable was drop out of students from school. The study established that: too much work and managerial responsibilities assigned to teachers, limited attention given to slow learners by teachers in class and the failure of teachers to check students work are some of the factors that were found to influence student drop out in secondary schools. The study recommends first, teachers should give attention to slow learners so that they do not feel neglected and hence opt to drop out of school, second, teachers should frequently check students work in class in order to identify learners with problems so that they can be assisted. Third the government should establish an effective evaluation and monitoring programme to ensure that the school administrative policies do not contribute to wastage and dropout in schools.

Keywords: Drop Outs, Influence, Slow Learners, Teacher Characteristics

THE EFFECTS OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND ATTITUDES ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN KCSE ECONOMICS EXAMINATION (Published)

Economics is a very important subject in the school curriculum. However, since the adoption of 8-4-4 system of education in Kenya in the mid 1980’s, the number of students registering for economics in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) has been steadily dropping. This has been attributed to the unsatisfactory student’s performance in KCSE economics. This paper sought to examine the effect of teacher characteristics and attitudes on student performance in Economics subject. The study is a field based survey conducted in secondary schools offering economics in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Simple purposive sampling was used to get the representative sample for the study. The representative sample, constituted all the fourth form students of economics in all the secondary schools in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya, Inspectors of schools in districts where economics was being offered and teachers from the schools where the subject was offered. A total of 187 students, 32 teachers and 4 district inspectors took part. Data was collected from the sample using questionnaires. The data collected was analysed using Excel software program. Basic statistical techniques were used to analyse various items in the questionnaire. These include calculating the averages, frequencies, percentages and totals. These statistical techniques were used to make comparisons in the various data collected. Conclusions on the variables analysed were finally drawn from these comparisons. The study concludes that teachers have a positive attitude towards the subject thus poor performance could be attributed to other factors than teacher attitudes. The author expects that teachers of economics will benefit from the findings on the identified factors that influence the instructional procedures and strategies and hence improve the performance of the subject in the national examinations.

Keywords: Attitudes, Economics Examination, Effects, KCSE, Student Achievement, Teacher Characteristics