Students’ achievement in mathematics: Analysing the influence of gender and school nature

Abstract

This study examined students’ achievement in senior secondary school mathematics qualifying examination in Kano State, the influence of sex and schools nature on their achievement in mathematics has been assessed. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. A pro forma was used to collect data from a sample of 300 students, selected using stratified random sampling procedure from the science secondary schools in Kano state Nigeria. The data collected were the students’ performances in mathematics achievement test. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test to test the hypotheses at 0.05, level of significance. Overall results showed that students performed below average and a significant gender difference exists in mathematics performance. Similarly, a significant difference was also observed with respect to schools nature (boarding and day schools); day school students performed above better than boarding school students. The implication of this finding is that despite government continuous efforts, the academic achievement of students in mathematics through above hypothetical pass mark fell below the required average mark for admission into Nigerian universities. It was recommended among others that teachers should regularly motivate students to develop a good study habit and test them on the various mathematics concepts and feedback provided should be used to prepare them for credible achievement in mathematics at both internal and external examinations. Keywords: Gender; mathematics; school nature; students’ performance