A Comparison of Academic Performance of Learners in Day Secondary Schools and Those in Boarding Secondary School in Kenya

Given the rising cost of education, there has been a growing consensus of establishing Day Secondary School to provide school places for the increasing number of learners joining secondary level of education. Day schools have been associated to low performance at the national examinations. This study compares academic performance of learners in Day Secondary Schools and those in Boarding Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya. This study was guided by Cost Function derived from the Education Production Function theory. This study employed a cross-sectional survey as a research strategy. This study targeted all the principals in 186 public secondary schools in the Nandi County. It employed stratified random sampling so as to achieve representation from the school types. The sample size was determined by use of the published table by Krejcie and Morgan. Questionnaire and document analysis were the main instrument of data collection. A pilot study was used in determining the reliability while validity of the research tool was achieved through a carefully and critically examination of the instruments by experienced team of supervisors. Data was analyzed using frequency, means, range, percentages and t-test. It was found out that, academic performance for the period (2012-2015), recorded an average mean of 7.1184 and 4.7391 for Boarding and Day secondary schools respectively. This study found out that, there was a significant difference in academic performance between Boarding and Day secondary schools (t(121) = 9.990, p = 0.000); The findings of this study will generate ideas for better and more resourceful cost management in secondary schools, which is useful for policy makers and managers in education sector. The study makes recommendation that, there is need to improve effectiveness and efficiency of school management, effectively utilize monetary resource, appropriately allocate resources and practice prudence in financial management.