INFLUENCE OF INTERNAL EXAMINATION SETTING PRACTICES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLIC DAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Examination setting is an important aspect of assessing and evaluating learners’ academic achievement of desired knowledge and competencies. However, little is known on how effectively internal examinations setting practices in public day secondary schools prepare learners for better academic performance in national examination. Therefore, the study aimed at establishing the influence of internal examination setting practices on students’ academic achievement in public day secondary schools in Busia County, Kenya. The hypothesis of the study was that internal examination setting practices has no statistically significant influence on students’ academic achievement in public day secondary schools in Busia County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Education Production Function Theory and employed an ex-post facto research design. The study population comprised of 7,388 form four students of 2020 and 115 Directors of Studies (DOS) in the 115 public day secondary schools in Busia County. Multistage sampling was used to draw a sample of 661 respondents constituting of 626 form four students of 2020 and 35 Directors of Studies. Data was collected using questionnaires for form four 2020 students and Directors of Studies; and document analysis. Face and content validity of research instruments were ascertained using experts’ opinion from the supervisors while reliability was determined using Cronbach's Alpha and reliability of 0.954 and 0.923 for the candidates’ questionnaire and Dean of Studies questionnaire respectively were considered reliable. Quantitative data was analysed descriptively using mean and inferentially using Multiple Linear Regression by aid of Stata version 12.1 and results presented inform of tables. The study established that internal examinations set to test on ability of students’ to think wide and consistently work hard in studies influence an increase of 0.4377899 and 0.4705922 points in student aggregate points in KCSE after controlling for student and school level variables. The study recommended that public day secondary schools should develop internal examination setting policies that compel learners to think critically, consistently work hard in studies, and curb students’ absenteeism.