Relationship Between Clear Performance Standards and Students’ Academic Performance in Homa Bay County

Active learner and the teacher contribute to meaningful learning. Active participation requires motivation which is fundamental especially to learners who view learning process as a challenging and time-consuming activity. This can only be achieved by the implementation of motivational strategies to enhance students’ performance. This paper was aimed at establishing the relationship between clear performance standards and students’ academic performance in public secondary schools. The paper was guided by the following objective: To establish the relationship between clear performance standards and students’ academic performance in Homa Bay County. This study adopted Maslow’s theories of motivation. The correlation research design was used. The study was carried out in public secondary schools in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The target population of the study was 32 heads of department, 64 teachers and 640 students in 32 public secondary schools in Homa Bay County, this gives a total of 736.The sample size were: 32 heads of departments, 19 teachers and 64students. This gave a sample size of 115.Stratified sampling was used in selecting schools according to the following strata: public boarding secondary schools and mixed-day secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used in selecting heads of departments, teachers and students. The instruments for collecting data were questionnaires for teachers and students. There was also an interview schedule for heads of departments. Qualitative data was analysed thematically and presented in thematic summary and quotes while quantitative data was analysed using Spearman rank correlation, frequencies, percentages, and mean and presented in tables and graphs. The key findings of this study were that there is a positive correlation between student performance standards, and student academic performance in public secondary schools in Homa-Bay County. Based on the findings, the study recommends that educational policies should mandate the establishment of clear and well- communicated performance standards across schools.