CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Research provides inconsistent findings regarding the importance of parent-child communication and other forms of parental involvement activities to children’s school success (Domina, 2005; Englund, Luckner, Whaley, & Egeland, 2004; Fan & Chen, 2001; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Mattingly, Prislin, McKenzie, Rodriguez, & Kayzar, 2002). Some studies report positive associations with aca- demic achievement (Callahan, Rademacher, & Hildreth, 1998; Fan, 2001; Hong & Ho, 2005; Houtenville & Conway, 2008; McWayne, Hampton, Fantuzzo, Cohen, & Sekino, 2004), other studies indicate no association (Barnard, 2004; Fan & Chen, 2001; Mattingly et al., 2002; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008), and even others point to negative associations (Coleman & McNeese, 2009; Domina, 2005; Fan, 2001; Muller, 1995).
Academic Performance of students is of utmost importance to parents, educators, concerned Nigerians and the government. This, of course, is because of the huge impact education has on the national and economic development of the country. Education is an investment as well as an instrument that can be used to achieve rapid scientific, social, political, technological, cultural and economic development in the country. Regrettably, however, the consensus of opinion all over the country is that Academic Performance of students in Nigeria is poor (Adebule, 2004).
According to Davison Institute (2004), achievement is a measure of quality and quantity of success one has in the mastery of knowledge, skills or understanding. Achievement could also involve accomplishing whatever task or goal one sets for himself or herself. It is the attainment of a standard of excellence (Umeano, 2010).
Academic Performance, specifically, has been described by O’Donnel, Reeve, and Smith (2005), as the extent of an individual’s level of knowledge in a given task in school. In this context, Academic Performance is the ability or level of success of the students in their academic work (which could either excellent or poor). Students should therefore put up personal efforts in order to achieve success or excellence in their academic work.
The annual releases of senior secondary school certificate examination (SSSCE) results conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC), justified the problematic nature and generalization of the poor secondary school students’ achievement in different school subjects. Information from WAEC showed that, out of the 1,369,142 candidates who wrote the examination in May/June 2008, only 188,442, representing 13.8 percent got the necessary requirements of five credits including English and Mathematics. Out of 1,373,009 candidates that wrote the examination in 2009, only 356,981 students, representing 25.99 percent, passed with five credits including English and Mathematics which is the mandatory prerequisite for university and other tertiary institutions’ admissions. This poor result implies that 74.01 percent of the students failed. Also, in 2010, WAEC result showed that only 451,187 students, representing 33.38 percent, passed English while 560,974, representing 41.5 percent, passed Mathematics. However, statistics showed that only 23 percent passed whereas 77 percent failed to achieve the basic five- credit university admission requirement.