Low Academic Achievement: Causes and Results

Samer M. Al-Zoubi
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts and Educational Sciences, Ajloun
National University,
Jordan
Mohammad A. Bani Younes
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Information Technology, Ajloun National University,
Jordan
Abstract—This research aimed to identify the causes and results of low academic achievement
from teachers, parents and students perspective as well as providing possible solutions to this
problem. With reference to the researchers' experiences as teachers at schools and later at
universities and after seeing the academic results of
students on various courses, they found that there are weaknesses in the students' academic
achievement. In fact, academic achievement is considered very necessary for students to
transfer from one studying level to another, so the researchers found that it is crucial to
investigate this topic. In fact, this research presents some factors that affecting students' low
academic achievement for instance, using traditional methods instead of using modern
teaching methods in teaching, as well as the poor relationships between the teachers and the
students that create a teaching environment lacking of respect which leads to the lack of
students' acceptance of the learning process on the whole. Finally, the researchers proposed
some solutions for dealing with low
academic achievement such as, looking for the real reasons for failure, developing clear plans
and rules to achieve success and not to ignore the learner's potentials. The researchers
recommended that the parents should be aware of their children's problems and pursue their
academic achievement step by step, increasing
interest in the physical, mental and health of the student, providing a relaxing school
environment and using attractive techniques and educational activities to motivate students for
leaning. Index Terms—Academic achievement, failure, success, exam's anxiety, learning
difficulties

I. INTRODUCTION
To experience the real excitement of success, one must experience bitterness of failure for once,
and from our errors we can learn more than learning from our success, and this does not mean
that human deliberately fail to succeed, no one accepts that. On the contrary, we should look
at failed experiences positively after going through them, to draw the required experiences for
success then to invest failure in order to succeed and changing it from a painful memory to a
situation providing us with the benefits and experiences throughout our lives. Human beings are
eager to success and
achievement in their scientific and practical lives at all levels, but lasting success cannot be
achieved constantly because human rely on trying in their lives, and the consequences of this
attempt is failing sometimes. Failure does not mean giving up as long as it would not be the last
objective in a person's life, but it becomes a motivation for success and a ladder to climb and
moving towards the best to achieve the goals and objectives. In fact, failure is always
associated with frustration and fear because of its relation to punishment from others which
takes a form of disrespect, rebuke and
punishment either physical or moral like, beatings and neglecting. Though, the fear of failure,
committing mistakes, permanent feeling of guilt and not trying to succeed are the failure itself.
II. RESEARCH PROBLEM
The problem of low academic achievement of students in the examinations is one of the most
challenging problems that faces students as well as teachers. This problem has many causes
and it has educational, social, cultural and psychological dimensions. However, the students'
low academic achievement on the exam can be defined as: Low or weakness of the student's
mark under the normal average in a study subject level as a result of a variety of reasons,
including those related to the student himself, or those related to family, social and academic
environment. Consequently, this may lead to frequent repetition of failure,
despite their abilities that qualify them to get the best marks. Individual differences play an
important role in academic achievement of students. There have been many attempts to
address the problem of low academic achievement and some factors have been identified in
explaining academic
achievement. Among the numerous variables researched, demographic status, intelligence,
behavioral characteristics and psychological factors, namely, attitudes, self esteem, self efficacy
and self concept, have been used to explain academic achievement. Besides differences in
ability, which are not easy to control, students have specific learning styles that may influence
their academic achievement. Sternberg (1997) proposed that learning styles are at least in part
socialized, suggesting that they can, to some extent, be modified. Thus, being aware of learning
styles and their roles in academic achievement is of a great importance for educational
psychologists, teachers and researchers.

ISSN 1799-2591
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 5, No. 11, pp. 2262-2268, November 2015
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0511.09
© 2015 ACADEMY PUBLICATION

This research focuses on addressing the real causes of this weakness and attempt to understand
and analyze these causes to find suitable solutions to reduce the phenomenon of weakness of
students' achievement on exams.

III. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE

Generally, failure has many disadvantages in various fields, since learning and teaching are the
very important and considered a necessity for life at the present time. The problem of low
achievement at examinations is a big problem causing a lot of negative and dangerous effects
on the family and the community together. As for the family that facing this problem, its
individuals are suffering from instability and the emergence of cases of violence and escaping
from the house and other things that sometimes destroy the family which will reflect negatively
on the community as a whole. Accordingly, this can lead to imbalance and inharmonic among
the community members. Because of the distraction of the social structure where it causes the
irregularity in the tasks performed by its members, the emergence of social
classes, and a failed and unsuccessful class in its life considered as a burden on community that
lead to wide gaps among the members of the community.
The problem of low academic achievement is one of the biggest problems that facing the
modern educational institutions, which hindered them from the implementation of their
educational mission appropriately. Still, this problem may lead to the presence of a group of
students who are unable to pursue their courses with their colleagues because of their weak
potentials, becoming a source of annoyance, chaos and inconvenience to the teacher and
the rest of the students and this in turn leads to disruption of the educational process in the
classroom and in the whole school. Though, many parents complain of low academic
achievement experienced by their children, unaware of the real reasons behind this weakness
and ways to solve it. Some parents might use non educational and useless methods such as
physical punishment to urge their children to be hardworking in their studying. Unfortunately,
these coercive methods cannot lead to improved conditions of their children, on the contrary,
they can provide undesirable.

Abstract
This study was conducted to examine different factors influencing the academic performance
of secondary school students in a metropolitan city of Pakistan. The respondents for this study
were 10 th grade students (300 male & 300 female). A survey was conducted by using a
questionnaire for information gathering about different factors relating to academic
performance of students. The academic performance was gauged by the result of their 9th
grade annual examination. Standard t-test and ANOVA were applied to investigate the effect
of different factors on students' achievement.
 The results of the study revealed that socioeconomic status (SES) and parents' education have
a significant effect on students' overall academic achievement as well as achievement in the
subjects of Mathematics and English. The high and average socioeconomic level affects the
performance more than the lower level. It is very interesting that parents' education means more
than their occupation in relation to their children's academic performance at school. It was
found that girls perform better than the male students.

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ QUALITY OF

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A CASE OF SECONDARY
SCHOOL LEVEL
M.S. Farooq1, A.H. Chaudhry1, M. Shafiq1, G. Berhanu2
1University of the Punjab, Pakistan
2University of Gothenburg, Sweden
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine different factors influencing the academic
performance of secondary school students in a metropolitan city of Pakistan. The
respondents for this study were 10th grade students (300 male & 300 female). A
survey was conducted by using a questionnaire for information gathering about
different factors relating to academic performance of students. The academic
performance was gauged by the result of their 9th grade annual examination.
Standard t-test and ANOVA were applied to investigate the effect of different
factors on students’ achievement. The results of the study revealed that socio-
economic status (SES) and parents’ education have a significant effect on
students’ overall academic achievement as well as achievement in the subjects of
Mathematics and English. The high and average socio-economic level affects the
performance more than the lower level. It is very interesting that parents’
education means more than their occupation in relation to their children’s
academic performance at school. It was found that girls perform better than the
male students.
Keywords: Quality performance, achievement, socioeconomic status,
demographic factors, gender and academic achievement.
INTRODUCTION
In this era of globalization and technological revolution, education is
considered as a first step for every human activity. It plays a vital role in
the development of human capital and is linked with an individual’s
well-being and opportunities for better living (Battle & Lewis, 2002). It
ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to
increase their productivity and improve their quality of life. This increase
in productivity also leads towards new sources of earning which
enhances the economic growth of a country (Saxton, 2000). The quality of
Factors Affecting Students’ Quality of Academic Performance: A Case of Secondary
School Level
2|
students’ performance remains at top priority for educators. It is meant
for making a difference locally, regionally, nationally and globally.
Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in
exploring variables contributing effectively for quality of performance of
learners. These variables are inside and outside school that affect
students’ quality of academic achievement. These factors may be termed
as student factors, family factors, school factors and peer factors (Crosnoe,
Johnson & Elder, 2004). The formal investigation about the role of these
demographic factors rooted back in 17th century (Mann, 1985). Generally
these factors include age, gender, geographical belongingness, ethnicity,
marital status, socioeconomic status (SES), parents’ education level,
parental profession, language, income and religious affiliations.
 These are
usually discussed under the umbrella of demography (Ballatine, 1993). In
a broader context demography is referred to as a way to explore the
nature and effects of demographic variables in the biological and social
context. Unfortunately, defining and measuring the quality of education
is not a simple issue and the complexity of this process increases due to
the changing values of quality attributes associated with the different
stakeholders’ view point (Blevins, 2009; Parri, 2006).
Besides other factors, socioeconomic status is one of the most researched
and debated factor among educational professionals that contribute
towards the academic performance of students. The most prevalent
argument is that the socioeconomic status of learners affects the quality of
their academic performance. Most of the experts argue that the low
socioeconomic status has negative effect on the academic performance of
students because the basic needs of students remain unfulfilled and hence
they do not perform better academically (Adams, 1996). The low
socioeconomic status causes environmental deficiencies which results in
low self esteem of students (US Department of Education, 2003). More
specifically, this study aims to identify and analyze factors that affect the
quality of students’ academic performance.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Educational services are often not tangible and are difficult to measure
because they result in the form of transformation of knowledge, life skills
and behaviour modifications of learners (Tsinidou, Gerogiannis, &
Fitsilis, 2010). So there is no commonly agreed upon definition of quality
that is applied to education field. The definition of quality of education
Journal of Quality and Technology Management
|3
varies from culture to culture (Michael, 1998). The environment and the
personal characteristics of learners play an important role in their
academic success. The school personnel, members of the families and
communities provide help and support to students for the quality of their
academic performance. This social assistance has a crucial role for the
accomplishment of performance goals of students at school (Goddard,
2003). Besides the social structure, parents’ involvement in their child’s
education increases the rate of academic success of their child
(Furstenberg & Hughes, 1995).
The relationship between gender and the academic achievement of
students has been discussed for decades (Eitle, 2005). A gap between the
achievement of boys and girls has been found, with girls showing better
performance than boys in certain instances (Chambers & Schreiber, 2004).
Gender, ethnicity, and father’s occupation are significant contributors to
student achievement (McCoy, 2005; Peng & Hall, 1995).
Above and beyond the other demographic factors, the effects of SES are
still prevalent at the individual level (Capraro, M., Capraro, R., &
Wiggins, 2000). The SES can be deliberated in a number of different ways;
it is most often calculated by looking at parental education, occupation,
income, and facilities used by individuals separately or collectively.
Parental education and family SES level have positive correlations with
the student’s quality of achievement (Caldas & Bankston, 1997; Jeynes,
2002; Parelius, D., & Parelius, A., 1987; Mitchell & Collom, 2001; Ma &
Klinger, 2000). The students with high level of SES perform better than
the middle class students and the middle class students perform better
than the students with low level of SES (Garzon, 2006; Kahlenberg, 2006;
Kirkup, 2008).
The achievement of students is negatively correlated with the low SES
level of parents because it hinders the individual in gaining access to
sources and resources of learning (Duke, 2000; Eamon, 2005; Lopez, 1995).
Low SES level strongly affects the achievement of students, dragging
them down to a lower level (Sander, 2001). This effect is most visible at
the post-secondary level (Trusty, 2000). It is also observed that the
economically disadvantaged parents are less able to afford the cost of
education of their children at higher levels and consequently they do not
work at their fullest potential (Rouse & Barrow, 2006).
Factors Affecting Students’ Quality of Academic Performance: A Case of Secondary
School Level
4|
Krashen (2005) concluded that students whose parents are educated score
higher on standardized tests than those whose parents were not educated.
Educated parents can better communicate with their children regarding
the school work, activities and the information being taught at school.
They can better assist their children in their work and participate at
school (Fantuzzo & Tighe, 2000; Trusty, 1999).
Theory of Educational Productivity by Walberg (1981) determined three
groups of nine factors based on affective, cognitive and behavioral skills
for optimization of learning that affect the quality of academic
performance: Aptitude (ability, development and motivation); instruction
(amount and quality); environment (home, classroom, peers and
television) (Roberts, 2007).
The home environment also affects the academic performance of students.
Educated parents can provide such an environment that suits best for
academic success of their children. The school authorities can provide
counseling and guidance to parents for creating positive home
environment for improvement in students’ quality of work (Marzano,
2003). The academic performance of students heavily depends upon the
parental involvement in their academic activities to attain the higher level
of quality in academic success (Barnard, 2004; Henderson, 1988; Shumox
& Lomax, 2001).
There is a range of factors that affect on the quality of performance of
students (Waters & Marzano, 2006). A series of variables are to be
considered when to identify the affecting factors towards quality of
academic success. Identifying the most contributing variables in quality of
academic performance is a very complex and challenging job. The
students in public schools belong to a variety of backgrounds depending
upon their demography. This diversity is much vast and complex as ever
before in Pakistani culture. Keeping in view all these discussions,
researchers conducted this study to examine the effect of different factors
on the students’ quality of academic achievement at the secondary school
level in a metropolitan city of Pakistan.
Journal of Quality and Technology Management
|5
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objectives of the study were to:
a) analyze the effect of socio-economic status, parental education and
occupation on quality of students’ academic performance.
b) explore the effect of socio-economic status on student’s
achievements in the subjects of Mathematics and English.
c) find the difference in quality of students’ achievement in relation
to their gender.
Null Hypotheses:
a) There is no significant effect of socio-economic status, parental
education and occupation on quality of students’ academic
performance.
b) There is no significant effect of socio-economic status on student’s
achievements in the subjects of Mathematics and English.
c) There is no significant difference in quality of students’
achievement in relation to their gender.
METHOD AND PROCEDURE
This descriptive study was conducted by using a survey method. The
population was the secondary school male and female students from a
metropolitan city of Pakistan. At the first stage twelve male and female
public sector secondary schools (six each) were selected conveniently.
Secondly, only fifty volunteer students (25 male and 25 female) out of all
volunteers from one section of the 10th grade were selected randomly
from each of the 12 schools. Thus the sample size for the study was 600
students (300 male and 300 female). The study was delimited to only
demographic factors such as students’ gender, parents’ education,
parents’ occupation and socio economic status. The quality of academic
performance was measured by their achievement scores of the 9th grade
annual examination verified from the Board of Intermediate and
Secondary Education, Lahore and school records. Data regarding the
variables such as parents’ education, parents’ occupation, SES, urban/
rural belongingness, and students’ gender were collected by using a
questionnaire.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284150574_Factors_affecting_students'_quality_of_ac
ademic_performance_A_case_of_secondary_school_level

Digital Literacy Effect on the Academic Performance of Students at Higher Education Level in
Pakistan
The purpose of current study was to explore the effect of digital literacy on academic
performance of the students at higher education level. The study was mixed method and data
were gathered with a questionnaire & semi-structured... more
EURASIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Purpose: Although there have been studies about academic performance that is focused only
one factor, studies aiming to measure academicians’ perceptions in a lot of factors haven’t
been observed in the literature. It is thought that the... more
The poor and the rich: A look at economic stratification and academic performance among
undergraduate students in the United States
Influence of School Facilities and School Types on Senior Secondary School Science Students'
Academic Performance in Nasarawa State, Nigeria
This study examined the influence of school facilities and types on Senior Secondary School
Science Students' academic performance in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two research hypothesis
were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The... more
The Impact of Study Habit on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students
INTRODUCTION The present day educational sector is becoming increasingly dynamic. The
determination of every individual is to attain success and this success affects the personal and
social dimensions of life. In this regard, academic... more
The brain is the most interesting and cryptic structure in the human’s body. Its investigations
mainly were led by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, although they did not accept the
preeminence of this organ and used to throw it away from... more
THE EFFECT OF THE NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS IN NIGERIA

Cognitive Profile of Children and its Relationship With Academic Performance

Introduction: Cognitive abilities are necessary for successful learning. Children with different
cognitive ability levels may have diverse performances. The current study aimed at investigating
the cognitive profile in children and its... more
Extracurricular Activities and Student Performance at Jubail University College
Jubail University College organizes extracurricular activities (ECAs) each semester for their
students. The activities range from clubs to competitions and student-oriented events. The goal
of this research is to study the impact of... more

https://www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Academic_Performance

A Study of Factors Influencing Students' Academic Performance in a Higher Secondary School in

Bhutan

1. Introduction
Education plays a vital role in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. It helps
any society fashion and model individuals to function well in their environment. An
important aspect of education is academic performance. Academic performance
refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish
different tasks given to them by their teachers in a xed time or academic year
(Dimbisso, 2009). Academic performance in different subject areas iis designated
by grades, marks and scores assigned by teachers (Adediwura & Tayo, 2007). The
grades and scores obtained by students represent students’ scholastic standing
and is also a pointer of the effectiveness of schools, indicators of quality of
education, a major determinant of the wellbeing of youths in particular and
the nation in general (Lewin, Wasanga & Somerset, 2011). Some researches
(Ali, Norhidayah, Jusoff, Kamaruzaman, Ali, Syukriah, Mokhtar, Najah &
Salamt, 2009; Boit, Njoki & Chang’ach, 2012) have found that there is a close
relationship between students’ academic performance and development of a
nation. Students with high academic performance have been found to be more
productive and contribute towards the economic growth of a country.
Academic performance is important across all levels of education in Bhutan.
It is an important criterion for promotion of students from one grade to another.
Secondary level education is the most crucial stage in the life of students as
they make an important transition to tertiary education. Academic performance
determines how successfully students make this transition (Kimani, Kara &
Njagi, 2013). Students who do well in their secondary education are able tosecure
admission togoodcolleges and universities. Academic performance also decides
students’ job placement. Students who have high academic scores in their
tertiary education have more opportunities to choose their future jobs and get
paid a higher salary. While high academic performance has numerous positive
impacts, poor academic performance could have unfortunate consequences
for students, teachers and society at large. According to Kimani et al. (2013)
poor academic performance at secondary school undermines students’ chances
of joining institutions of higher learning and jeopardizes opportunities for job
placement, and in most cases reduces an individual’s active participation in
national development. It is a problem that is inimical to the well-being of a
society as it impedes the smooth actualization of the purpose of education,
which is to mentally prepare an individual for service to self and to the society
(Adeyemi&Adeyemi, 2014).
 Further, Liem, Dillon and Gore (2001) claim that
students who have poor academic records would nd it dif cult to cope in a
competitive society.
The higher secondary school from which data were obtained for the study
is located in one of the southern districts in Bhutan. It has 593 students with
classes ranging from nine to twelve. The school’s vision is to be a ‘model
institution of excellence in the delivery of quality education. The school’s goal
is to ‘prepare academically competent individuals’ (School policy document,
2015). However, the academic performance of students of the school has come
under the spotlight for a number of reasons. Over the past few years there has
been an underachievement in students’ academic performance in both home
(standardized test conducted in school) and board examinations. Teachers in the
school perceive of students’ low academic performance as their being poorly
motivated andself-regulated.
Students’ underachievement in academic performance is evident in the results
of the Bhutan Council of School Examinations and Assessment’s(BCSEA)
Pupil Performance Report (PPR) in the two board examinations–BCSE (Bhutan
Certi cate for Secondary Education) for class ten and BHSEC (Bhutan Higher
Secondary Examination and Certi cate) for class twelve. The PPR reported
theschool’s low academic scores in both BCSE and BHSEC for four consecutive
years(see Table 1). In 2011, the mean score for BCSE was 46.48 and 50.3 for
BHSEC. In 2012 the mean score for BCSE was 48.2 and for BHSEC it was
49.4. In 2013mean score for BCSE was 46.5 and 50.3 for BHSEC. The year
2014 saw not much improvement. The mean score for BCSE was 52.25 and
57.5 for BHSEC. The reports also mentioned that the number of students who
quali ed for class eleven was just82 out of 224 in 2011, 81 out of 182 in 2012
and 82 out of 224 in 2013
All in all, the fore going speculationsfrom various stakeholders triggered a
need to conduct a study to understand the factors affecting students’ academic
performance. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the factors
that in uence academic performance in the higher secondary school from
which data werecollected. The study sought to determine whetherstudents’
demographic characteristics, parents’ socio-economic status and parenting
styles could be considered as predictors of students’ academic performance in
the school. The study also sought to nd students’ level of awareness of learning
and study strategy.

Research Questions
1. Do students’ demographic characteristics like gender, age and living
arrangements affect students’ academic performance?
2. Does parents’ socio-economic status affect students’ academic performance?
3. Do different parenting styles bring about differences instudents’ academic
performance?
4. To what extent are students aware of a proper learning and study strategy?
Signi cance of the Study
It is envisaged that this study may provide information for parents, educators,
students and school administrators to re ect upon various factors that help
students to achieve their academic goals.
School Administrators: The results may inform the school administrators about
the factors that militate against students’ academic growth and accordingly adapt
workable measures or strategies to improve students’ academic performance.
Teachers: The results could be helpful for teachers to know the factors that
in uence students’ academic performance and accordingly guide students
to achieve their academic goals, especially in the use of learning and study
strategies.
Parents: The ndings of the studycan be used toinform the parents about the
type of parenting style they use at home,since parents have a crucial role in
children’s academic growth (Bempechat, 1992). The results may stimulate
parents to work towards creating and promoting conducive home environment
for children’s academic growth.
Students: Students may gain an insight of the weaknesses and strengths in their
learning styles and study habits. It may stimulate them to work to overcome
their weaknesses and consolidate their strengths
Variables
The variables under consideration were academic performance (student’s
test scores) as a dependent variable and students’ demographic characteristics
(age, gender and living arrangements) parents’ socio-economic status (parents’
education, income and occupation), parenting style (authoritative, authoritarian
and permissive) and students’ learning and study strategy as independent
variables (See Figure 1)

Limitation
The study considered to explore the effect of only four factors on students’
academic performance. These factors are demographic characteristics; parents’
socio-economic status; and students’ study and learning style. They were chosen
because of the growing speculation among teachers and other stakeholders over
these factors as the causes of low academic achievement in the school. Other
factors related to availability of resources, curriculum, home environment,
students’ locus of control, and teachers’ instructional practices could not be
included. The other limitation is that the study has been conducted based on
data collected at only one point in time rather than collection of data at different
periods of time.
5. Conclusion
The conclusions drawn from the analysis were as follows.
1. There is no difference in students’ academic performance based on gender.
2. There is no difference in students’ academic performance based on age.
3. Living arrangements does not make any difference in students’ academic
performance.
4. Family income and parents’ education has a moderate effect on students’
academic performance.
5. Students with parents from higher occupation levels performed better
than students whose parents were from low occupational levels.
6. Authoritative parenting resulted in better academic performance than
authoritarian and permissive parenting.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326146681_A_Study_of_Factors_Influencing_Students'
_Academic_Performance_in_a_Higher_Secondary_School_in_Bhutan

1.0
INTRODUCTION
The academic performance of students at most Universities in the world today has recently
come under scrutiny for a number of reasons. For example, a number of studies have been
carried out to identify causal factors of poor academic performance in a number of institutions
worldwide. Most of these studies focus on the three elements that intervene, that is, parents
(family causal factors), teachers (academic causal factors), and students (personal causal
factors) (Diaz, 2003). In light of the above, this study purports to investigate the main factors that
affect students’ academic performance at UNZA main campus. The combination of factors
influencing the academic performance of students varies from one academic environment to
another, from one set of students to the next, and indeed from one cultural setting to another.
More often than not, students have worked hard but their input has not been positively
correlated to their output.
This has been revealed in a report from UWI’s Office of Planning and Development (2011), where
10% of all undergraduate courses offered at UWI, St. Augustine recorded high failure rates. This
increases the cost of training graduates as well as reducing admission opportunities for high
school students seeking a
University education. Low pass rates impose a huge cost to the communities in terms of the low
number of students graduating and the reduced intake of potential students due to shortage of
spaces caused by low throughput. So, in order to ensure that a larger proportion of the labour
force is highly trained, most Universities including UNZA must put in place measures that ensure
high completion rates. In the case of UNZA Main Campus, the failure and dropout rates are
higher in such school like School of Law, School of Engineering and School of Veterinary
Medicine among others. However, in cases where there are low dropout or exclude rates, at
least there should be poor performance making students to merely clear in order to proceed as
opposed to getting excellent result. Much of the attrition that reduces completion rates has
been attributed to low academic performance in early pre-requisite undergraduate courses
(Scott and Graal, 2007). This problem although may be lightly taken has a profound influence on
the communities. Not only that, it also contravenes the motto of the University, ‘Service and
Excellency’ in that there is no excellence when people are poorly performing and failing

In view of that, this study sought to investigate the main factors that affect students’
academic performance at UNZA main Campus so that appropriate administrative measures
can be taken to help the community. The research report is organized in the following order:
introduction, literature review, statement of the problem, research objectives, research
rationale, methodology, presentation of findings, discussion of findings and then a conclusion.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
There have been a number of excludes and high failure rates at UNZA main campus year in year
out. The academic performance of a number of students has not been to their expectations.
They have been poorly performing. What else has not yet been done to solve the problem?
Emphasis on tutorial participation, clinics, and study groups has been placed by some lecturers
to improve the performance of students but to no avail. Meanwhile, others have conducted
lecture attendance roll calls as an alternative for combating the alarming poor academic
performance of students but less positive returns have been achieved. Notwithstanding that,
the APA systems like in the case of the school of education have been introduced together with
the use of projectors in the delivery of lectures to help the myopic and slow learning students
catch up easily but the expected returns have not helped much to improve the general
academic performance of students, (School of Education Handbook, 2010)
More so, a big and efficient internet café in the UNZA main Library has being in operation to help
students do their research effectively but as if their efforts were in vain, the performance kept
deteriorating. New departments (department of population studies among others) have been
created where possible. According to the University Calendar Hand Book (2009), extra-curricular
activities have been encouraged and the door to the counseling centre has been wide open
to offer professional counseling services. But still the problem of poor academic performance at
UNZA main Campus still persists. It is for these reasons that, this study seeks to investigate the main
factors that affect students’ academic performance at UNZA main Campus so that a lasting
solution can be provided to improve the quality of education in our country Zambia.

https://www.academia.edu/11281195/FACTORS_AFFECTING_STUDENTS_ACADEMIC_PERFORMA
NCE_FINAL_RESEARCH_REPORT
1. Introduction
Determinants of students' performance have been the subject of ongoing debate among
educators, academics, and policy makers. There have been many studies that sought to
examine
this issue and the findings of these studies point out to hard work and discipline, previous
schooling, parents’ education, family income and self motivation as factors that can explain
differences in students' grades. For example, Siegfried and Fels (1979) concluded that the
student’s aptitude is the most important determinant of his/her learning. In a study of high school
students who are in an economics class and want to take another economics course, Beron
(1990)
found that there is a link between the perceived usefulness of an additional course in
economics
and the performance of the students in a current economics course. Gender wise, Williams et al
(1992) found no evidence to support the hypothesis that significant and consistent gender
3
differences exist in college students' performance on economic exams. Romer (1993) found that
class attendance is reflected significantly on the students’ GPA. Anderson and Benjamin (1994)
found that the most important factors that affect students' performance in university introductory
economics course were the overall achievement level and taking a course in calculus. With
regard to gender, they found that male students outperform their female counterpart. Kennedy
and Tay (1994) concluded in their survey article that the research on the factors affecting
students’ performance in economics points out to student’s aptitude as the most important
determinant of learning. Study effort, age of student, and a good match between student’s
learning style and instructor’s teaching style all have positive effect on student's performance.
Cohn et al (1995) found that memory and note-taking affect learning in the introductory courses
in economics. Devadoss and Foltz (1996) studied the effects of previous GPA, class attendance,
and financial status on the performance of students of some agriculture economics related
courses. They concluded that previous GPA and motivation affect positively the current GPA.
They also found that students who support themselves financially are likely to have better
performance. Zimmer and Fuller (1996) in their survey article of the factors affecting students'
performance in statistics found that statistics anxiety and attitude, and computer experience are
linked to students' performance in statistics courses. Ellis et al (1998) in their study on the
factors affecting student performance in principles of economics, found that the likelihood of a
student making a grade of A or B significantly decreases as the number of absences increases;
when the student is a member of fraternity or sorority; and as the number of credit hours carried
by the student during the semester increases. On the other hand, the chance of a student
making
an A or B in the course significantly increases with having taken a calculus course; a higher
GPA; and higher SAT scores. Lane and Porch (2002) studied the factors affecting students'
4
performance on an introductory undergraduate financial accounting course and found that
age
and students attitude toward accounting have significant effect on students' performance.
Karemera (2003) found that students' performance is significantly correlated with satisfaction
with academic environment and service received. He also found that the existence of
professional development programs and internship opportunities are associated with better
academic performance. With regard to background variables, he found a positive effect of
high
school performance and school achievement while there was no statistical evidence of
significant
association between family income level and academic performance.
As it can be seen from the above literature review, the previous studies have focused on
students' performance in the U.S. and Europe. However, since there are cultural differences
between western societies and traditional middle eastern societies, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
in our case, and since such differences may play a role in shaping the factors that affect this
performance, it is very important to examine those relevant factors to UAE society and in
particular to the UAE University (UAEU) students' population.
The aim of this research is to examine determinants of students' performance in the College
of Business & Economics-UAEU taking into account variables pertaining to the UAE Society.
Besides the conventional factors, this study will investigate the effect of gender on students'
performance especially that UAEU has different campuses for male and female students.
Another factor to be investigated is whether living on campus has any role in determining
students' performance. This factor interacts with gender since there exist very restrict rules on the
female campus especially with regard to their movement in and out of the campus. Another
factor that may affect students' performance is family size which differs significantly among
different ethnic and economic sub-groups. On the other hand, since the language of instruction
at
5
the CBE is English, students' competence in English is included in our list of variables affecting
students' performance.
The importance of this study is two folded:
1. It focuses on factors that affect students' performance in the UAEU.
2. It should help policy makers in the UAE in general and in the UAEU in particular
to design and implement policies to improve students' performance on one hand
and improve the efficiency of education on the other hand.
The remaining of this paper is organized as follows: section (2) presents a general
description of the population of the College of Business and Economics in UAEU and the
methodology used in conducting this research. In section (3) we discuss the regression
results, and we conclude in section (4).
2. Methodology:
UAE is composed of seven emirates: Abu-Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Um Quwayn,
Fujairah and Ras Al Khaymah. UAEU is located in Al-Ain city in Abu Dhabi emirate. The
College of Business and Economics (CBE) at UAEU offers seven majors: Accounting,
Economics, Finance, Management, Management Information System, Marketing, and Statistics.
In late February 2004, students' population at CBE consisted of 2,207 students. Among those, a
majority of 1395 were female students (63.2%). The higher female presence in the students'
population can be explained by the fact that many UAE male high school (HS) graduates prefer
to join the lucrative public service, especially the army and the police, instead of attending
college. Amongst those who decide to go to college, some choose to go to European or U.S.
colleges and universities
Due to tradition and culture, there are two separate campuses; one for female and one for
male students. We will try to examine the effects of social factors on each group. Moreover, the
non-national students' population represents about 20% of the overall student's population. Most
of these non-national students are Arabs who live with their families as residents in the UAE.
Besides the Arab students, there are some non-Arabs who are mostly from some African
countries and some republics of the former Soviet Union.
This study was carried using a sample of students from the CBE. A questionnaire was
prepared and distributed to a representative sample of students. Data was collected in an
anonymous way. The questionnaire included three sets of questions: the first set addressed
individual student background information such as HS background, parent's education, working
experience, and studying hours. The second set covered the perception of the students to the
university environment such as the attitude towards the university and students' perception
towards their professor. The third set of questions addressed the socioeconomic characteristics
of
the student's family studying environment, such as how affluent or traditional the family is as we
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24112529_Factors_Affecting_Students'_Performance
Factors Affecting Students' Performance
Nasri Harb1*
Department of Economics
College of Business & Economics
United Arab Emirates University
P.O. Box 17555
Al-Ain, UAE
Tel.: 971 3 7133228
Fax: 971 3 7624384
E-mail: nasri.harb@uaeu.ac.ae
Ahmed El-Shaarawi*
Department of Economics
College of Business & Economics
United Arab Emirates University
P.O. Box 17555
Al-Ain, UAE
Tel.: 971 3 7133261

Academic Pertformance of Ip Students

In: Social Issues

Submitted By angging
Words 9004
Pages 37

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The Philippine archipelago is made up of 7, 107 islands with total area of 300, 00 square
kilometer. It has a current population of nearly 88 million people, 75% of which belong to 8 major
ethnic groups and the remaining 25% are divided among different minor ethnic groups and
indigenous tribes.
The country has more than 110 ethnic tribes and cultural communities whose cultures and
traditions are in varying states of extinction. These vanishing ancestral traditions and customary
laws used to define social relationships and values and promoted efficiency of economic
activities.
Section 30 of the IPRA stipulates that “the state shall provide equal access to various cultural
opportunities to the IP’s through the educational system, private or public cultural entities,
scholarships, grants and other incentives without prejudice to their right to establish and control
their educational systems and institutions by providing education in their own language, in a
manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning. Indigenous
children/youth shall have the right to all levels and forms of education of the State”.
The Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) is a DepEd project supported by the
Government of the Philippines and the Government of Australia through the Australian Agency
for International Development (AUSAID). It is aiming to improve the access to and the quality of
basic education in the Southern and Central Mindanao thereby contributing to the attainment
of peace and development in the Southern Philippines.
Under the BEAM Project, three IP Pilot Schools in Malita, Davao del Sur are beneficiaries, namely:
the B’laan National High School situated at Barangay Little Baguio; Demoloc Valley National
High School at Barangay, Demoloc; and Ticulon National High School at Barangay Ticulon.
One common criteria for these schools to qualify in the BEAM Project as Pilot Schools is that 90 to
95% of its students are indigenous peoples. Barangay Little Baguio is the home for most of the
B’laan groups in Malita, Demoloc consist of mostly Taga-kaolos, while Ticulon comprise the
Manobos.
The researcher embark on this study considering that there is dearth of available literatures on
the academic performance of IP students in the Philippines, particularly in the municipal and
provincial levels. Thus, this study is conceptualized.

Statement of the Problem

The study aims to assess the academic performance of IP and non-IP high school students in
English, Science and Mathematics in IP Pilot Schools in Malita, Davao del Sur.
Specifically, the study will seek answer to the following questions: 1. What is the academic
performance of IP and non-IP high school students in: a. English; b. Science; and c.
Mathematics? 2. Is there a significant difference in the academic performance of IP and non-IP
high school students in English, Science, and Mathematics? 3. What are the factors affecting the
academic performance of IP and non-IP high school students in terms of:
a. parent-factors;
b. teacher-factors;
c. school-factors; and
d. student-factors? 4. Is there a significant relationship between the different factors on the
academic performance of the IP and Non-IP high school students in English, Science, and
Mathematics?

Scope and Limitation

The study will focus on finding the academic performance between the IP and non-IP high
school students in English, Science and Mathematics in IP Pilot Schools in Malita, Davao del Sur
which includes the B’laan National High School, Demoloc Valley National High School, and
Ticulon National High School. The factors affecting academic performance will be delimited to
the following variables, namely: parent-factors, teacher-factors, school-factors, and student-
factors. The academic performance of IP and non-IP students in English, Science and
Mathematics will be measured in terms of the National Achievement Test (NAT) result of 2010.
The respondents of the study will be the second year high school students only because they
were the ones subjected to the National Achievement Test (NAT). The study will be conducted
from November to December 2011.

Significance of the Study

The results and findings of the study may offer and give benefit to the following:

DepEd Officials
The findings of the study can be used as basis by the DepEd Officials in improving and designing
curriculum and teaching strategies that would suit to IP high school students.

School Heads The school head will be given first-hand data on the factors affecting academic
performance of their students. Given the information they can design measures to improve or
further hasten performance of IP and non-IP high school students.

Classroom Teachers The classroom teachers will better understand their students’ level of
performance and its causes. With the findings of the study, the teachers will be properly guided
and directed on their approach with their students. This is very important knowing the fact that
teachers are the ones having direct contact with the student.
Parents
The parents will be given right information about the performance of their siblings at school,
hence, can be the partners of teachers in helping students achieve, improve or hasten
academic performance.

Students
The results of the study will open the eyes of the students on their weaknesses and strengths
towards achieving, improving or hastening academic performance.

Future Researchers
The findings and the results of the study can be used as reference by future researchers who will
engage themselves in similar study. Through the conduct of this study, available literature can
be accessed by the future researchers.

Definition of Terms
For the purpose of this study, the following terms are defined operationally:
Academic performance- it refers to the grades of I.P and Non I.P students in the subject.
ACPC – it is an acronym for Asian Council for People’s Culture which assisted the different
indigenous tribes in the Philippines in setting up Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions
(SIKAT).
Assessment- it refers to the process of gathering intrapersonal or interpersonal on the students’
current behavior, language or motor skills in any environment that involves a part of the
students’ current plan or planned educational program.
AUSAID – it is an acronym for Australian Agency for International Development.
BEAM – it is an acronym for Basic Education Assistance in Mindanao.
DepEd – it is an acronym for the Department of Education.
Educational attainment– it refers to the highest education that the head of the family have
attained or achieved.
Facilities- this refers to the materials and equipment that are owned by the school.
Factors- this refer to the parents, teachers, school, and students contributing to the academic
performance of high school students in English, Science, and Mathematics.
Family income- it refers to the total earnings that parent have gained or received for a given
period, for example in a monthly period.
HOTS – it is acronym for Higher Order Thinking Skills. It is a test item that contains close
constructed, open-ended and multiple choice questions.
Instructional materials- it refers to some resources like books, journals, and pamphlets that are
utilized for instructional purposes.
IPRA – it is an acronym for Indigenous Peoples’ Right Act known as Republic Act 8371.
IPs - it is an acronym for Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, who are aptly referred to in the
1987 Constitution as Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs).
IP students – the IP is used as an adjective describing the group of students who belong to either
B’laan, Taga-Kaolo, or Manobo tribes.
IP Pilot Schools – these refer to schools operated to cater and serve IP students and is funded
under the BEAM Project.
NAEP – it is an acronym for National Assessment of Educational Progress which assess US students
achievement in ten program areas, namely: art career and occupational development
citizenship, literature, mathematics, music, reading, science, social studies and writings.
NAT – it is an acronym for National Achievement Test given to second year high school students
to measure their academic performance in a given period of time.
NCIP – it is an acronym for National Commission for Indigenous Peoples. It is a government
agency in the Philippines
National Commission for Indigenous People (NCIP) as a partnership initiative, was the
establishment of the Institute for Indigenous Peoples’ Education (IIPE) based in Davao City and
funded by the Australia-Philippines Facility on Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM).
Parent-factors- these refer to the educational attainment and income of the parents that may
influence the academic performance of the students in English, Science, and Mathematics.
RAMSE - it is an acronym for Regional Assessment in Mathematics, Science and English given to
students to assess performance in the given field.
School-factors – these refer to the school-related factors that affect the academic performance
of students in English, Science, and Mathematics.
SIKAT – it is an acronym for Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions. Its programme
envisions a system at par with mainstream education, founded on the ways of life, traditions and
culture of indigenous peoples.
Student-factors – these refer to the student-related factors that affect the academic
performance of students in English, Science, and Mathematics.
Teacher-factors- these refer to the teacher’s techniques and strategies in teaching that may
influence the student’s academic performance English, Science, and Mathematics.
TIMSS – it is an acronym for Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
UNESCO – it is an acronym for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Assessment of Learning

A significant part the BEAM project is the student assessment initiative which has developed and
applied assessment instruments designed to measure student learning outcomes in English,
Science and Mathematics known as the Regional Assessment in Mathematics, Science and
English (RAMSE). The test was administered to students in 2004 in randomly selected schools in
the Regions XI, XII and the ARMM. It includes test items that assess the Higher Order Thinking Skills
(HOTS). The test contains close constructed, open-ended and multiple choice questions.
Some results of the RAMSE 2005 revealed the following: a) students were inclined to answer
multiple choice test types rather than close constructed or open-ended; b) students have
difficulty answering test items that assessed Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS); c) females
performed better than males; d) non-IPs (Indigenous People) performed better than IP Pupils; e)
students performed better when given “sufficient” support from the community.
The following are some of the recommendations drawn by the DEPED XI, XII, and ARMM senior
officials after the results were presented to them: a) provide pupils and students more exposure
on activities to answer close constructed and open-ended questions; b) train teachers to the
development of test items addressing HOTS; c) implement a monitoring and evaluation system
that would check if the trainings attended were really applied in the classrooms; d) provide IPs
with more resources, both human and material in which the curriculum maybe modified to suit
their socio-cultural, socio-linguistic and even psycho-social needs; e) maintain giving regular and
quality homework to develop students habit of reviewing lessons taught for the day. Homework
should also be checked and returned; and f) continue to involve stakeholders in programs and
projects of DepEd.
In the US, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assess students achievement
at approximately, 5 years of intervals in each of ten program areas, art career and
occupational development citizenship, literature, mathematics, music, reading, science, social
studies and writings, test are constructed to measure the achievement of the objectives of the
students of ages 9, 13, and 17. The objectives of the National Assessment for Educational
Progress (NAEP) may have considerable impact of the course of American education. Another
objective is to enable experts in test construction to develop related achievement tests and
questionnaires.
Bertrant and Cedula (1980) stated that evaluation is a dynamic process to be carried on
constantly as teachers go about the daily job assessing the needs of their students. They further
maintain that assessment of learning does not wait for the behavior to happen.
 They influence its occurrence first by knowing their children’s need by testing, measuring and
evaluating behavior and meet them by teaching new behavior.
Berdine and Meyer (1987) mentioned stages in the assessment process. These are: screening
and identification, eligibility and diagnosis, instructional program and planning, instructional
program evaluation. There are two common focal points that are evident throughout the
assessment process: the pupil and the teacher according to these authors, the classroom
teacher is a valuable participant in all phases of the assessment process. The assessment of pupil
performance is an integral part of education.
Thus, it can be seen that evaluation should not only focus on teacher’s attention on the growth
of a learner and his total environment, but that it also provides a reason for continuous
curriculum betterment that are sufficient to warrant careful attention to evaluation as an integral
part of planning and action.

Indigenous Education in the Philippines

Indigenous education in the Philippines has been a recent phenomenon, starting only in the
past decade. Legislation supporting indigenous peoples rights as well as giving legitimacy to
establishing indigenous schools were only authored in the past 8 years. The Asian Council for
People’s Culture (ACPC) assisted the different indigenous tribes in the country in setting up
Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions (SIKAT). The SIKAT programme envisions a
system at par with mainstream education, founded on the ways of life, traditions and culture of
indigenous peoples. This paper takes a closer look at one of the SIKAT Schools-the Sagu-Ilaw
SIKAT of the Bukidnon Tribe in Nortern Mindanao.
Sagu-Ilaw was set up in 2002 with the assistance of ACPC. Since then, despite the perennial
problem of funding, it has been surviving on its own. It was designed as a tertiary type teacher-
training school whose students teach the tribe’s children in their respective communities. Recent
linkages with the Department of Education have led to conflict over control of the school,
leading the tribe to fear for the continued loss of their identity. Other linkages are currently being
established for the survival and further development of the school.

Education in the Context of Philippine Indigenous Peoples

The Indigenous Peoples (IPs) of the Philippines, who are aptly referred to in the 1987 Constitution
as Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs), comprise one of the most dynamic and culturally-
diverse sectors of Philippine society. It has been claimed by them, however, that the highly
Western-entrenched current educational system is not reflective of the unique and diverse
cultures and specific circumstances of IPs, which in turn results to their systemic alienation from
their cultural identity and rootedness to their ancestral domains. Moreover, the existing
educational system is acknowledged to have contributed to the further marginalization and
exploitation of IPs in various parts of the country. While some of them have managed to preserve
their rich cultures and traditions by resisting subjugation by Spanish, American and Japanese
colonizers, the situation is best understood by revisiting our colonial past, which defines the
evolution of policies in this country that have favored the interests of our subjugating colonial
masters and an elitist mainstream society. In the process, all these led to the historical exclusion
of IPs from the rest of the Filipino society and perpetuated historical injustice inflicted to them.
These are exhibited through social discrimination, economic marginalization, political
disenfranchisement and cultural displacement (Buasen Jr., 2010). In the post-war era, the vital
role of education in nation-building has been given credence but there was a failure for not
having established the foundation of educating our people from where we were before
colonization. A centrally-imposed and colonial-driven educational system inappropriate to the
specific and unique circumstances as well as cultural peculiarities of Indigenous Peoples had
become seriously anathema to the sector and is a big issue to reckon with. Corollary to the
afore-stated indention, NCIP embarks on a two-pronged approach of pursuing the
indigenization agenda with the existing educational system through the formal education
stream and the alternative learning system with partner agencies and organizations,
while at the same time, advocating for the recognition and sustainability of indigenous learning
systems as part of the community of life of ICCs/IPs. With primordial focus on IP community-
based schools and culture-sensitive educational interventions, some of the more vulnerable IP
groups are subject to focused targeting on basic literacy with gradual progression scheme.
There are initiatives for the basic education of Indigenous Peoples that were started, both with
the Department of Education and with local-based partners, and developed through various
workshops and dialogues with IPs, and these are all subject to continuing validation and
refinement on ground (Buasen Jr., 2010). A major achievement with the Bureau of Alternative
Learning System (BALS) of the Department of Education (DepEd) is the official issuance of DepEd
Order No. 101, series of 2010, last September 16, 2010 which provides for the Development and
Pilot-testing of the IP Core Curriculum and Instructional Materials for Alternative Learning System
(ALS) nationwide. Making use of the culture-sensitive and generic Core Curriculum for IPs on
Alternative Learning System that was developed in 2006. Modules and the corresponding
instructional materials, reference guides and facilitators’ manuals were translated, also by the
IPs, and these have gone through series of focused group discussions, rigid scrutiny and
refinements, both in the field and in the policy levels. Since the entire IP community is considered
as the entire school, the philosophy adhered to in the process was that the clientele system must
be in synergistic partnership with the delivery system (Buasen Jr., 2010).
Another DepEd-recognized initiative, which was supported by the National Commission for
Indigenous People (NCIP) as a partnership initiative, was the establishment of the Institute for
Indigenous Peoples’ Education (IIPE) based in Davao City and funded by the Australia-
Philippines Facility on Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM). Now turned over to the
management of DepEd Regional Office XI, the IIPE placed a high premium on the learnings
gained from the conduct of Educational Field Exposure and Cultural Dialogues in various IP-
serving schools in the country prior to its operations. Experiences in the field served as references
for the development of a culturally-appropriate curriculum making use of the minimum
competencies prescribed in the formal basic education. The said curriculum was subjected to
validation workshops and school-based trials in selected formal elementary and high schools
located in IP-inhabited districts of Southeastern and Central Mindanao. The IIPE, which also
serves as a training venue for school administrators, teachers, tribal leaders and sectoral groups
such as youth/children and women, used to be a consortium of government agencies and non-
government organizations based in Davao City that are actively working for increased access
and improved quality education that is culturally-sensitive, appropriate, wholistic and relevant
for ICCs/IPs in Mindanao. The consortium partners included the NCIP, DepEd-Region XI,
Philippines Australia BEAM, MEDCo, MindanaWon, MINCODE, LumadsDev and the Assisi
Development Foundation (Buasen Jr., 2010). Through a Core Group composed of School
Presidents and authorized representatives of State and Private Universities and Colleges who
attended the 1st and 2nd National Conferences on Indigenous Peoples’ Higher Education in
Davao City and co-sponsored by the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP), Minority Care
International and the NCIP, a National Steering Committee on Indigenous Peoples’ Higher
Education (NSC-IPHEd) is currently being put in place to advocate for IP Higher Education in the
Philippines. The proposed Network is jointly facilitated by the NCIP, USEP and the Assisi
Development Foundation. This initiative aims to establish partnership with CHED, DepEd and
TESDA in advancing quality, relevant and culture-based higher education for IPs; to advocate
and promote IP rights to education; to organize seminar-workshops in developing mechanisms
for the integration of indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs) to instruction,
research, extension and production; to plan out future gatherings and conferences on IP
Education; and to establish linkage and support among Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and
various stakeholders (Buasen Jr., 2010). In partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd)
Technical Working Group on Muslim and Indigenous Peoples’ Education and other stakeholders
on IP Education under the operational ambits of the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda
(BESRA), NCIP helped draft a National IP Education Policy Framework during the Conference
Workshop on July 22-24, 2008 at the Development Academy of the Philippines, Tagaytay City.
The draft framework, which has undergone series of validation workshops by IPs and NCIP
technical personnel, is a concerted effort based on various IP education initiatives and
experiences nationwide that were shared during the inception workshop which were translated
into vision and goals, principles, components, and priority activities as indicated in a draft action
plan. These will serve as springboards for the formulation of an Indigenous Peoples’ Education
Roadmap subject to series of continuing validation activities with the ICCs/IPs. The formulation of
the said roadmap will be a quantum leap for the over-arching concern for all community-based
efforts to be mainstreamed in policies, plans and programs for formal basic and higher
education as well as non-formal and informal education of IPs. This will be complemented by
NCIP’s priority program of documenting the indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs)
and customary laws of the different indigenous cultural communities in tandem with the IPs
themselves. These are essential to both policy and technical levels especially in the
indigenization of school curricula, both for competencies and content, and how the
educational system is operationalized in IP context (Buasen Jr., 2010). The NCIP asserts that
culturally appropriate and responsive education enables the Indigenous Peoples to stand up,
be counted and protect their rights as well as improve their multi-dimensional well-being in terms
of social, cultural, economic and political situation. As such, education is indispensably
considered by NCIP as an essential tool for “enabling” through recognition and empowerment,
for “ensuring” by way of protection, and for “enhancing” as in promotion and development, of
Indigenous Peoples’ rights and welfare, their ancestral domains, the assertion for self-
governance and their cultural integrity. Relative to this, an Educational Assistance Program (EAP)
is implemented as one of the big and most sought-after programs of the agency. Currently
serving 16,353 grantees from 124 IP-inhabited Congressional Districts nationwide, the NCIP-EAP
aims to improve the over-all quality of life, efficiency and enlightened empowerment of ICCs/IPs
thru increased access to educational opportunities. In school year 2009-2010, there were 14,471
(88.49%) College grantees, 1,182 (7.23%) High School grantees and 700 (4.28%) Elementary
grantees who qualified and availed of the program as per approved implementing guidelines.
As of school year 2008-2009, there are 15,036 graduates assisted since the program was
implemented under NCIP in 1999, and thus, a total of 28,534 beneficiaries from school year 1999-
2000 to school year 2008-2009 (Buasen Jr., 2010). Following the parlance of indigenous context,
an IP community must always be viewed as an entire school in itself that connotes the
indispensable value of experience and practicality. As such, the approach must exhibit creative
flexibility in content and pedagogy that puts a mandatory premium on practical relevance and
responsiveness, historical, ethnographic and cultural sensitivity, community-centeredness, and
rights-based, modular, and life-long learning focus. IPs must actively and substantially participate
in all phases, levels or stages of any intervention. As a pre-requisite, community protocols such as
their free and prior informed consent (FPIC) must be respected and properly obtained with
community consultations being made a built-in component in all engagements. Simply put, the
immediate aim for IP education is to build/increase capacity and skills of each child, youth and
adult for an empowered understanding of the world around him/her and for productively
participating in matters concerning the tribe while preserving and taking pride in his/her
indigenous cultural roots and identity (Buasen Jr., 2010).
Indigenous Knowledge
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
(2003), ‘Local and indigenous knowledge’ refers to the cumulative and complex bodies of
knowledge, know-how, practices and representations that are maintained and developed by
peoples with extended histories of interactions with the natural environment. UNESCO says that
these many terms coexist because the wide range of social, political and scientific contexts
have made it all but impossible to for a single term to be suitable in all circumstances.
UNESCO has recognized the importance of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, that it launched the
Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) Project in 2002. As a cross-cutting intersectoral
project, LINKS brings together all five programme sectors of UNESCO in a collaborative effort on
local and indigenous knowledge. The LINKS Project focuses on this interface between local and
indigenous knowledge and the Millennium Development Goals of poverty eradication and
environmental sustainability. It addresses the different ways that indigenous knowledge,
practices and worldviews are drawn into development and resource management processes. It
also considers the implications this may have for building equity in governance, enhancing
cultural pluralism and sustaining biodiversity (UNESCO, 2003).
Local and indigenous knowledge includes the sophisticated understandings, interpretation and
meanings that are accumulated and developed by peoples having extended histories with the
natural environment (UNESCO, 2003). For the vast majority of rural and indigenous peoples these
knowledge systems provide the basis for local-level decision-making about fundamental aspects
of day-to-day life (economic, social, cultural, ecological).
Indigenous knowledge is also one of the key action themes identified by UNESCO in the UN
Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). Indigenous and local
knowledge spans several important areas. However, for this paper, it shall be limited to
indigenous education in the Philippines.

Situation of Indigenous Education in the Philippines

The country has more than 110 ethnic tribes and cultural communities whose cultures and
traditions are in varying states of extinction. These vanishing ancestral traditions and customary
laws used to define social relationships and values and promoted efficiency of economic
activities. Unfortunately, environmentally devastating socio-economic ventures, large-scale
indiscriminate mining and industrial logging have brought incalculable damage to their primary
source of livelihood and cultural sanctuary. The consequent destruction of their environment
resulted in the further degradation of ancestral cultures which are largely shaped by the
indigenous people’s interaction with the natural elements.
This resulting loss of their cultural identities, coupled with the devastation of their environment,
have resulted in the serious economic displacement and cultural disempowerment of these
communities. Tribal communities in various geographical areas are thus among the most
impoverished and marginalized sectors of Philippines society (ACPC, 2005).
Though the Philippine Republic has been in existence for more than 100 years, it has only been
since the late 1980s and the 1990s that the government sought to address the plight of the
indigenous peoples. The present constitution, which was written in 1987, in Article XIV Sec 1
states: “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all
levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all. The State shall
recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to preserve and
develop their cultures, traditions, and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of
national plans and policies.” These mandates were unfortunately not supported by specific
legislation or policies. It was not until 1990s that further legislation was authored to protect the
rights of the indigenous peoples.
In October 1997, then President Fidel V. Ramos signed into law Republic Act 8371-the Indigenous
Peoples’ Right Act (IPRA). This legislation lays down the legal framework for addressing
indigenous peoples’ poverty. It seeks to alleviate the plight of the country’s “poorest of the poor”
by correcting, through legislation, the historical errors that led to the systematic dispossession of
and discrimination against the indigenous peoples. The IPRA law enforces the 1987 Constitution’s
mandate that the State should craft a policy “to recognize and promote the rights of indigenous
peoples within the framework of national unity and development’’ and “to protect the rights of
indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social and
cultural well-being” (Asian Development Bank, 2002.
The IPRA law also serves as the basis for the establishment of indigenous schools. Section 28 of
the IPRA law states: “The State shall, through the National Commission on Indigenous People
(NCIP), provide a complete, adequate and integrated system of education, relevant to the
needs of the children and young people of ICCs/IPs.” Section 30 further states: “The State shall
provide equal access to various cultural opportunities to the ICCs/IPs through the educational
system, public or cultural entities, scholarship, grants and other incentives without prejudice to
their right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions by providing
education in their own language, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching
and learning.
Indigenous children/youth shall have the right to all levels and forms of education of the State.”
However, even with these recent legislations on indigenous peoples and indigenous rights, there
remain very few indigenous schools in the country. In the Philippines, education is divided into
formal and non-formal education. The formal sector is further divided into three levels: primary,
secondary and tertiary. Each can be private or public. Ever since the Americans establishing the
public school system in the country, no efforts were done on establishing schools that utilized
indigenous knowledge. In fact, it was required in all schools that the American system be used-
language and all. All Filipinos were required to learn only in English. It was only in the past 20
years that Filipino has been reintroduced as a language of instruction in schools, though English
still has preference. Native regional languages have never been encouraged, much less those
of the indigenous peoples. Only a handful of indigenous schools are in existence, all of them due
solely on the efforts of the tribal elders, often with very minimal support from the government-if
any.

Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions

Among the organizations in the country that promoted indigenous learning is the Asian Council
for People’s Culture (ACPC). It was ACPC that came up with the SIKAT Programme. SIKAT is the
Filipino word for ‘rising’ and at the same time the acronym for ‘Schools for Indigenous
Knowledge and Traditions’. The combination of both meanings expresses well what the SIKAT
programme is all about. It envisions a system at par with mainstream education, founded on the
ways of life, traditions and culture of indigenous peoples, as a stepping stone to promote sincere
development of the communities (Meneses, 2004).
The idea for the development of a culturally-responsive education was first expressed in 1999 by
several of the indigenous leader present in one of ACPC’s training. ACPC decided to facilitate
the building of a national network of indigenous community educators who would develop and
promote a dynamic and culturally responsive curriculum for indigenous communities. This inter-
tribal council of elders launched the movement for the promotion of indigenous education. They
then put forth a document- the Kalinga Declaration- which envision; “Indigenous education
founded on the life ways, tradition, worldview, culture and spirituality of the native community is
a basic right of all indigenous people. It is a pathway of education that recognizes wisdom
embedded in indigenous knowledge’’, (ACPC, 2004).
Since the Kalinga Declaration, ACPC facilitated teacher trainings, curriculum development
workshops, tribal leaders’ forum and other activities to prepare the communities and their
indigenous teachers for the establishment of their Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and
Traditions.
According to Meneses(2004), the basic principles of SIKAT are:

Ownership
SIKAT is an idea that originated from the indigenous people themselves, the concept and the
results of its implementation are therefore also owned by them. Important decisions are made
by the SIKAT Council of Elders, consisting of 15 elected members of different tribes nationwide.

Emancipation
The SIKAT- program is about indigenous people defining, developing and implementing their
own education; content, inputs in curricula, lesson plans, and manuals come from the
indigenous people involved in the SIKAT-program.

Cultural Diversity
While globalization brings along many positive consequences and possibilities, it also brings the
danger of cultural homogenization. The SIKAT- program offers indigenous people a chance to
revitalize their culture giving indigenous people the chance to contribute to society and suggest
innovation based upon their perspectives. The cultural variety among indigenous communities
offers indigenous people, from remote areas, to meet for an enriching inter- tribal interaction.
Environmental Sustainability
Indigenous worldviews are in ways holistic. For one thing, indigenous people have expressed
their survival to be inherently connected to their natural environment not only on a material
level, but also on a spiritual level. Indigenous communities’ environment carries the soul of their
ancestors, of their identity. The concept of ancestral domain and environmental sustainability
urgently needed to safeguard this ancestral domain has a central place in the SIKAT curriculum.

Community-Centered
Local representatives who are immersed in trainings like developing curriculum are the ones
expected to eventually teach and sustain their respective community SIKAT school.

Rooted in Day to Day Reality

One reason for indigenous people to want to establish culturally responsive education is the
experience that what children learn in Mainstream schools are often not relevant in their day-to-
day lives. Handbooks, curricula in mainstream education are highly westernized. Many
indigenous children even become indifferent of their cultural background. The high dropout rate
among indigenous students can be attributed to a school calendar that does not take into
account the planting and harvesting season vital to many indigenous communities. SIKAT wants
to develop a relevant curriculum to equip them with skills, knowledge and values to help
contribute to society, and take pride in their indigenous identity, instead of being uncomfortable
about it.

Recognition
SIKAT-participants often express aversion to be called para-teachers, or their education to be
categorized as non-formal education. Through this they want to express that indigenous
education should be recognized as quality basic education for their children, and not a form of
additional education, just because it is different from mainstream education. Therefore
advocacy and lobbying with the government, especially the Department Education is an
important point of attention.

Achievement or Academic Performance of Indigenous Students

Thomson et al., (2003) examined the performance of Australia’s Indigenous students who
participated as part of the early secondary school (Year 8) cohort of the IEA Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2003). The performance of Indigenous
students in this report has been compared to that of Australia’s non-Indigenous students across a
number of variables that are known to affect student achievement in TIMSS. In total, 562 Year 8
Indigenous students from 207 schools across Australia participated in the study. Indigenous status
in the report includes both Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The analyses in
this report categorised Indigenous students according to variables including gender, the
student’s state and geographic location, student background characteristics and attitudes to
learning, education resources in students’ homes, and the school’s socioeconomic composition.
The average performance of Indigenous students in mathematics and science has been
disaggregated by these variables in an attempt to identify those characteristics that may relate
to Indigenous educational achievement. The analyses showed considerable differences in the
level of Indigenous and non-Indigenous student achievement, and confirms findings from a
large body of studies that have shown that Australia’s Indigenous students consistently perform
at levels well below their non- Indigenous counterparts across all content domains in
international studies. Some of the examined variables related in a consistent manner to the
mathematics and science achievement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. However in
some circumstances, the relationship between some variables exacerbates or assists Indigenous
achievement to a greater extent compared to that of non-Indigenous students. Mitrou et al.,
(2002) stated that more than half of indigenous students aged 4-16 years (58%) in Western
Australia were rated by their teachers as having low overall academic performance.
Further, they stated that there is a high level of disparity in the overall academic performance
of indigenous and non-indigenous students. The incidence of low academic performance is
considerably higher among indigenous students than non-indigenous students. Teacher rated
academic performance for indigenous students for numeracy and literacy was similar to overall
academic performance in 2002, 59% of indigenous students in western Australia were rated as
having low academic performance in literacy, and 57% were rated as having low academic
performance in numeracy.

Factors Affecting Academic Performance of IP Students

Three key factors were found to be the predominant drivers associated with low academic
performance. While these were not the only factors associated with academic performance
they represent those which had the most impact. They were selected as the most powerful due
to both the strength of their association with low academic performance and the high
proportion of indigenous students affected by them. The three factors were emotional or
behavioral difficulties, school attendance, and the educational attainment of the carers of
indigenous students Mitrou et al., (2002). The most common specific emotional or behavioral
difficulty experienced by indigenous students (as assessed by their teachers) was hyperactivity
followed by conduct problems and problems with social behavior such as sharing. Students with
conduct problems display a range of behaviors including lying, stealing and fighting along with
tamper tantrums and disobedience Mitrou et al., (2002). According to Zubrick and Silbum (2006),
the following factors were identified as significantly predictors of low academic performance: a)
student-factors – speech difficulties, functional limitations risk of clinically significant emotional or
behavioral difficulties in language other than English mainly spoken in the classroom, whether
student usually does homework or study in a homework class and whether the carer has seen
the class teacher in the past six months about a problem the student was having ar school; b)
carer factors – primary carer’s education, labor force status and attendance at an Aboriginal
funeral in the last 12 months; c) family and household factors – number of homes lived in and
whether gambling causes problems in the household; and school environment factors – student-
to-teacher ratio, days absent from school, unexplained absence from school, school suspension
and repeating a year at school.
Conceptual Framework of the Study
IP high school students * B’laan * Manobo * Taga-kaolo

Non-IP high school students

IP Pilot Schools

* B’laan National High School * Demoloc Valley Nat’l. HS * Ticulon National High School

INDEPENDENT
VARIABLES

Factors Affecting Academic Performance

* Teacher Factors * Student Factors * School Factors * Parent Factors

MODERATING VARIABLES

Academic Performance in * English * Science * Mathematics

DEPENDENT
VARIABLES
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram showing the relationship of dependent and independent variables of
the study
As shown in the figure above, the IP Pilot Schools in Malita, Davao del Sur consist of the B’laan
National High School, Demoloc Valley National High School, and Ticulon National High School in
which most of the enrollees are IP students particularly the B’laan, Manobo and Taga-Kaolo
tribes. The type of schools and students are the independent variables of the study.
The academic performance (the dependent variable) of the IP and non-IP high school students
in English, Science and Mathematics can be influenced by some factors, namely: teacher-
factors, student-factors, school-factors, and parent-factors (the moderating variables).

Hypotheses

Ho1: There is no significant difference in the academic performance of IP and non-IP high school
students in English, Science, and Mathematics.
Ho2: There is no significant relationship between the different factors on the academic
performance of the IP and Non-IP high school students in English, Science, and Mathematics in
terms of:
a. parent-factors;
b. teacher-factors;
c. school-factors; and
d. student-factors.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Research Locale

This study will be conducted at the IP Pilot Schools in Malita, Davao del Sur, namely: the B’laan
National High School which is located at Sitio Caldoz, Barangay Little Baguio; the Demoloc
Valley National High School at Barangay Demoloc; and the Ticulon National High School at
Barangay Ticulon. Little Baguio, Demoloc, and Ticulon are far-flung barangays of the
municipality of Malita, Davao del Sur.
Little Baguio is approximately 40 km away from Barangay Poblacion. It is mainly compose of
valleys and rolling hills. It is blessed with cold temperature, thus, called as “Little Baguio”. The
barangay is dominated by B’laan tribe.
Demoloc is km away from Barangay Poblacion. It has a land area of 7,431 hectares compose of
valleys and rolling hills. The barangay is dominated by Taga-Kaolo tribe (83.1%), followed by
Cebuanos (10.5%), and the rest in other tribes like Ilonggos and Tagalogs.
Ticulon is ___ km away from Barangay Poblacion. It occupies an area of 2, 560 sq. km which
comprise about 2.13% of the total land area of the municipality of Malita. Residents of Barangay
Ticulon comprise the Cebuanos, B’laans and Taga-Kaolos who settled in the different sitios.

Plate 1. Map of the municipality of Malita

Research Design The descriptive-correlational design will be used in this study. Descriptive
method is a general procedure employed in studies that have for their chief purpose the
description of phenomenon (Good et.al., 1992). According to Good and Scate (1972), a
descriptive survey will be used when the data to be gathered concerns the present condition
providing the value of facts and focusing the attention to the most important things to be
reported.
Correlational study aimed at finding relationships between variables under studies. In this study,
the relationship between the different identified factors and academic performance of the IP
and non IP high school students will be tested.