TITLE:
Effectiveness of School Boards in Setting Strategic Direction and Its Effect on Students’ Achievement in Selected Counties of the North Rift, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Florence Chesseret, John Mugun Boit, Catherine Kiprop
KEYWORDS:
Strategic Direction, School Board Effectiveness, Secondary School Education in North Rift Kenya, Strategic Planning and Academic Performance
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.15 No.8,
August
14,
2024
ABSTRACT: School boards have a definitive role in school outcomes. The Boards of Management (BOM) in Kenya exist to oversee the provision of quality education in schools but their effectiveness has been questioned due to the persistent country-wide problem of low performance in national examinations. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of school boards’ effectiveness in offering strategic direction and its influence in students’ academic achievement in selected secondary schools in Kenya. Convergent parallel mixed methods research design was employed for this study. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and interview schedule. We used multi-stage sampling technique to draw a sample of 358 teachers and 12 principals from selected public secondary schools in Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi counties in North Rift of Kenya. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the data and test the hypothesis while thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The study found that BOM effectiveness in setting the strategic direction (β = 0.325, p