Abstract:
The education system in Kenya is examination oriented and its quality is seen in terms of the number of students passing national examinations. The issue of poor academic performance in examinations signifies a critical impediment in any country since education is a major contribution to economic growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between instructional supervisor’s attributes and students’ academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education in public secondary schools in Machakos County. The research adopted a correlational study research design of the expost facto method. The target population was 270 schools and the sample for the study was 41 schools equivalent to 41 headteachers. Data was analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The statistical significance of the difference between the sample means was tested using two sample t-test of equal variance while the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables (student academic performance and instructional supervisor’s attributes) was tested using Pearson Product Moment correlation. A coefficient value of 0.7289 was obtained and this was good enough to judge reliability of instrument (Grinnel, 1993). Findings on the relationship between instructional supervisor’s attributes and students’ academic performance revealed that majority of headteachers indicated that teaching and learning resources were inadequate which affected instructional supervision in schools. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that there was a significant relationship between instructional supervisor’s attributes and students’ academic performance at KCSE. There should be regular inspection of lesson notes, schemes of work and lesson plans. Headteachers should ensure that students have the necessary materials for learning they should check records of work and schemes of work. Taking the limitations and delimitations of the study it was suggested that a similar study should be carried out in other counties. A study should be carried out on headteachers’ personal characteristics and their influence on instructional supervision.
