Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Main Campus
Sta. Cruz, Laguna

GRADUATE STUDIES AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Student: Mannilou Pascua

Professor: Vilma M. Geronimo, Ph. D.
Subject: Education 604
Description: Advanced Research in Education

JOURNAL CRITIQUING

The article entitled,” School Principals and School Performance” by Damon Clark , Pac o

Martorell, and Jonah Rockoff was published on December 2009 on the CALDER working papers. This

study seeks to find out the traits of school principals that contribute on the school performance.

In this study the researcher used comprehensive New York City data to determine how

school principal characteristics contribute to school performance, as determined by

standardized test scores of students and other tests. The researchers find no evidence of any

association among school performance and primary education and primary work experience,

although we find some evidence that experience as an assistant director at the current school

of the principal is associated with higher performance among novice administrators. The

profile of the experience is particularly steep in the first few years of the key experience.

Lastly, they find conflicting evidence about the relationship between structured key learning

and professional development programs and school performance, with the exception that the

recruitment and deployment of New York City officials involved in these initiatives makes it

difficult to isolate their effects.

The introduction of the study clearly shows the objective and the focus of the study.

It is very helpful for the readers to easily identify the main idea and the arguments of the

researchers in their study. They imply that State and local school accountability programs
have become prevalent, partly due to federal No Child Left Behind law provisions. Focusing

on education, unlike school districts and teachers, presupposes that decision-making at

school level matters. Such decisions are largely determined by school administrators, who

have a significant influence on the composition of the staff of the school and the nature of

the curriculum, and who are responsible for monitoring the performance of teachers '

instruction. The methodology employed by the researchers are just suitable in the conduct of

the study in order to guarantee reliable and valid findings.

The article suggests a great deal of importance of the skills of the school principal on

the performance of the school. Thus, it very significant that principals must have proper

trainings and skills in order to increase the performance of the schools.

Reference: https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jrockoff/cmr_principals_calder_WP38.pdf
 Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Main Campus
Sta. Cruz, Laguna

GRADUATE STUDIES AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Student: Mannilou Pascua

Professor: Vilma M. Geronimo, Ph. D.
Subject: Education 604
Description: Advanced Research in Education

JOURNAL CRITIQUING
This study entitled, “Influence of Administrative Practices on Students’ Academic

Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Matungulu Sub-County, Kenya” by John Mbithi Kieti,

Redempta Maithya and David M. Mulwa was published on January 2017 at the International Journal

of Education and Research Vol. 5 No. 1. The study aimed to establish the influence of administrative

practices on students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Matungulu Sub-county, Kenya

which employed descriptive survey research design. Simple random sampling technique was used to

select the 230 participating students and 40 teachers in 10 public secondary schools in Matungulu

sub-county.

The article starts by establishing the focus of the study and the arguments of the authors in

this research which was supported with different studies in order to affirm his claim. He said that

Wamulla (2013) argued that one of the clearest messages from school effectiveness research is the

importance of the leadership of the head teacher. He draws attention to the fact that with weak

leadership there is no history of successful education. Maicibi (2003) also suggests that good success

in schools cannot be accomplished without a clear style of leadership. The study adopted a descriptive

survey design. The target population was all the 32 public secondary schools with an approximate

population of 385 teachers and 2,300 form three students. Public secondary schools in Matungulu

sub-county were stratified into Extra-county schools, County schools and Sub-county schools. The

findings reveal that administrative practices and academic performance are not independent of each
other. Therefore, the null hypothesis which stated that administrative practices have no influence on

students’ academic performance in Matungulu subcounty was rejected at the 0.05 level of significance

and conclusion was made that academic performance and administrative practices are statistically

dependent.

In all, the article is very well-written, the researchers were able to establish at once the main

focus and problem sought to be answered in the study in the introduction of the article. The

researchers were also able to manage a good methodology in gathering and interpreting the data

collected. They were also to identify and present every subtopics of the research well which help the

readers in widening their understanding of the concept indicated in the research.

The school is the place where students acquire formal learning and information. Thus, it is just

true that the administrative practices employed by the school will directly influence their

achievements in the learning areas.

Reference: https://www.ijern.com/journal/2017/January-2017/02.pdf