Factors that affected PLE and UCE performance of student’s case study: Kitende Secondary School

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to find out factors that affected students' in their PLE and UCE performance. Specifically, the study analyzed how the students' characteristics, the students’ school characteristics, and their family background determined their performance in PLE and UCE in senior six students in Kitende Secondary School. The research involved the use of questionnaires that were administered. Data entry was done in Epidata and the data analysis in Stata where testing of different hypotheses was done using Pearson Chi-square test to measure the association between dependent and independent variables. The study showed a statistically significant relationship between PLE results and schools attended in primary, p (0.003), primary school ownership, p (0.028), and the location of the primary school, p (0.014). Also, schools attended in secondary and UCE performance, p (0.034).This implies that PLE results are influenced by schools attended in primary, primary school ownership, and the location of the primary school. There was a significant relationship between PLE performance and family head, p (0.002)and family size in primary, p (0.050).There was a significant relationship between UCE performance, and family head, p (0.015) and family size, p (0.001). Using the logistic regression, the study analyzed that Students in the boarding section had higher odds (2.337) of getting first grade than those in the day section.Students that went to 3 to 5 schools had lower odds (0.254) of getting a first grade in PLE than those who went to 1 to 2 schools Students who came from extended families had lower odds (0.432) of getting the first grade than those who came from nuclear families. There was a significant relationship between family size and PLE performance, p (0.024). The main recommendation is government should increase efforts to improve the quality of public schools since the study has shown a relatively big difference in terms of performance with private schools