motivation, devaluing academic pursuits, etc) and in so doing, effectively absolve educational institutions of responsibility for finding solutions. Family’s social economic status has been found to contribute to students’ performance. Social Economic Status (SES) according to Considine and Zappala (2002) is a person’s overall social position to which attainments in both the social and economic domain contribute. They add that social economic status is determined by an individual’s achievements in education, employment, occupational status and income. In this study social economic status (SES) was characterized by family income, parental education and parental occupation. Graetz (1995) argues that children from high social economic status families perform much better at school compared to children from low SES families. Parents’ education level has also been identified as playing an important role in determining a child’s intellectual performance. It is believed that parent’s education level may perhaps be the main source of influence that determined a child’s academic achievement (Plomin, Defreies and Mc Clearn, 1990). Studies have indicated that parents with higher education level could motivate the intellectual potential within children that may lead them to perform better in school and in return strive for further education (Haveman and Wolfe, 1995). For example, parents’ education level may foster higher parental involvement in adolescent’s school achievement (Benbow & Arjmand 1990; Bogenschneider and Small 1997; Patrikakou, 1997), which in turn may influence high school completion (Astone and Mc Lanahan, 1991; Haveman, Wolfe and Spaulding 1991; Sandefur, McLanahan & Wojtkiewicz, 1992). Educated parents were also found to be able to make constructive decisions. Most studies on parents’ educational influence of children’s academic achievement were
performance. Data for this objective was collected from questionnaire and intensive interview sessions with teachers and students. The question was “In what ways does family contribute to students’ performance?” The table below shows summary of the responses. Table 4.2: Family Factors Influencing Academic Performance Family Factors No. of Teachers % Teachers No. of Students % Students Provision of school fees and other financial needs 20 67 42 75 Provision of guidance and counseling in school related matters 11 37 54 96 Provision of school necessities such as books and uniforms 25 83 19 35 Provision of conducive home environment for learning 26 87 51 92 Source: Field Data (2013) The data in Table 4.2 indicates that all the family factors to raise academic performance were positively rated. Provision of conducive home environment for learning was rated highly by the teachers, (87%) followed by provision of school necessities such as books and uniforms (83%). The least rated factor by the teachers was the provision of guidance and counseling in school related matters (37%). On the part of students, the most highly rated family factor was provision of guidance and counseling in school related matters (96%), followed by provision of conducive home environment for learning (92%). The least rated family factor by the students was provision of school necessities such as books and uniforms (35%).