ABSTRACT

The research focused on the evaluation of teacher quality and its impact on studentacademic performance in public junior secondary schools located within the Ovia NorthEastLocalGovernmentArea.Toguidethestudy,fiveresearchquestionswereformulated and subsequently addressed. The research employed a descriptive researchdesign.

The study encompassed a population of twenty-eight (28) public junior secondary schoolsin the Ovia North East Local Government Area. A sample of eight (8) public juniorsecondaryschoolswithinOviaNorthEastLocalGovernmentArea,EdoState,wasselected for the research. Data collection was facilitated through the use of a checklist,which had been validated by the researcher's supervisor and two other experts from theDepartmentof EducationalManagement atthe Universityof Benin,BeninCity.

Data analysis involved the application of various statistical techniques, including simplepercentages, frequency counts, Pearson's product-moment correlation, and Fisher's Zstatistics.

The findings of the study unveiled that teacher quality was notably high among theschools in the Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. Moreover, it wasevident that experienced teachers outperformed their less experienced counterparts. Theresearch also revealed a significant correlation between teacher quality and students'academic performance in public junior secondary schools in the Ovia North East LocalGovernment Area of Edo State. Furthermore, the study identified significant correlationsbetween teacher quality and students' academic performance, based on teachers' age andgender.

Thestudy'srecommendationsencompassedtheimplementationofteachertrainingprograms aimed at enhancing educators' skills and knowledge. Additionally, targetedintervention programs were suggested to support students who scored below the passingthresholdinthe2021/2022BasicEducationCertificateExamination(BECE).Theseinterventions could include additional tutoring, mentoring, and resource support to helpstruggling students improve their academic performance. The research also suggestedinvestigatingandimplementingage-specificteachingstrategies,recognizingthepotential benefits of younger teachers in terms of current knowledge and enthusiasm.Lastly, the study recommended promoting gender diversity in the teaching profession andhighlighted the potential for future research to explore specific teaching methods andapproaches that contribute to higher student academic success.It wasalso suggestedthat the findings could be applicable to senior secondary schools and private schools inorderto achievehigher levels of academicsuccess.