Influence of home environment on students’ performance in public day secondary schools in Katulani sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the Influence of Home Environment on Students’ Performance in Public Day Secondary School in Kenya. The study objectives sought to establish the influence of parents’ level of income and parenting style on students’ performance in public day secondary schools in Katulani sub-County. The study was based on the Effective Schools model whose proponent is Lezotte. Descriptive survey research design was employed. The target population comprised of 59 principals and 885 teachers. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to obtain a sample size of 18 principals and 89 teachers. Questionnaires were used as tools for data collection. Pilot study was carried to establish instrument validity. A Test re-test technique was used to establish instrument reliability. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data which was presented using frequency distribution tables. Qualitative data was organized into themes and presented in narrative form. From the findings, 43.8% of the principals strongly agreed and 6.3% of the principals disagreed that students whose parents have better income perform well in academics as they are provided with more learning materials. The study also found from 37.5% of the principals who strongly agreed and from 25.0% of the principals who disagreed that parenting style has a direct influence on student academic performance. The study concludes that economic status and parenting style have significant influence on students' academic performance in public day secondary schools.