PRINCIPALS’ INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISORY EFFECTIVENESS AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ONDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the relationship between principals’ instructional supervision effectiveness and students’ academic performance in senior secondary schools in Ondo State based on location of school, gender and experience of principals. Seven (7) research questions were raised, three were answered and four were hypothesized and tested. The correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 305 senior secondary school Principals in Ondo State. The sample size was thirty one (31) principals from the 31 sampled schools. The multi stage sampling technique was adopted to select the sample for this study. A checklist and questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Perceived Principals’ Effectiveness Questionnaire (TPPEQ)” were used to collect data. Expert judgments were used to ensure face and content validity.Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability and a co-efficient of 0.87 was obtained. Findings revealed that level of principal’s instructional supervision effectiveness in Ondo State senior public secondary schools is high (mean = 3.24); level of students’ academic performance was above average (mean = 2.55) using the benchmark of 1-1.99 as low, 2-2.99 as moderate, 3 and above as high; no significant relationship between principals’ instructional supervision effectiveness and students’ academic performance in Ondo State; while there is a significant difference in the relationship between principal’s instructional supervision effectiveness and students’ academic performance in senior secondary schools in Ondo State based on location of schools. It can be concluded that principals are effective in carrying out their supervisory duties, nevertheless, this does not reflect in students academic performance as expected by stakeholders of education who desired performance to be high. It was recommended that for students’ academic performance to be improved upon, learning taking place in the school should be thoroughly supervised by principals. Lesson preparation of teachers should be checked regularly.