Effectiveness of Quality Assurance and Standards Officers’ School Supervisory Roles in Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance in National Examinations in Nakuru District, Kenya

The gist of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Quality Assurance and Standards Officers’ (QASOs) supervisory roles and their impact on students’ academic performance in national examinations in Nakuru district, Kenya. The study had four fold objectives: i) to determine the level of training of QASOs on standards assessment before employment; ii) assess the factors affecting the quality of school standards assessment; iii) examine teachers perceptions towards the usefulness of QASOs and iv) find out the effectiveness of QASOs assessment reports and their impact on students performance in national examinations. The study utilized a descriptive survey research design. A random sampling technique was used to sample nine (21.2%) secondary schools from a population of 46 schools and 82 teachers (10.1%) out of a population of 818 and all the 5 QASOs yielding a total sample size of 142 subjects. The study used three types of research instruments, namely; Quality Assurance and Standards officers interview schedule (QASOIS), Headteacher questionnaire (HTQ), and secondary school teachers’ questionnaire (SSTQ) to collect data. Mixed methods involving qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to analyze the data. The major finding was that while all the QASOs have the required academic and professional qualifications with long periods of experience in undertaking supervisory roles in curriculum implementation, they are faced with numerous and intertwined challenges hampering effective execution of their duties. The critical challenges included inadequate logistical and financial facilitation as well as laxity by certain schools to implement the QASOs supervisory reports on strategies geared towards the enhancement of students’ performance in national examinations, especially at Kenya Certificate of Education (KCSE). It is recommended that QASOs should be provided with adequately facilitated with requisite finances and resources as well as in-depth training on utilization of assessment techniques so as to intensify informed advisory roles geared towards enhancement of teaching and learning outcomes in secondary schools not only in the study district of Nakuru, but in other areas with similar constraints.[325 words] Keywords: Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QUASOs), students’ academic performance, Academic qualification, professional qualification, institutional performance, advisory roles, learning outcomes