An Analysis of Factors Influencing Students’ Academic Performance in Public and Private Secondary Schools in Rivers State-Nigeria

The study examined factors that positively influence students’ academic performance in public and private secondary schools in Rivers State-Nigeria. One research question addressed the objectives and problem of the study. The instrument used for the collection of data was the “Students’ Academic Performance Questionnaire” (SAPQ), structured on the 4-point Likert scale measurement. A sample size of 489 SS3 public secondary students and 213 SS3 private secondary students, representing 15 percent of the targeted population of 3,252 SS3 public secondary students and 1,420 SS3 Private secondary school students in 4 out of the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State were simple randomly selected. A table was constructed; frequency counts, percentage and mean compiled to provide answers to the research question. The results of the study revealed that students in private secondary schools with a mean agreement of 87 percent are more positively influenced in their academic performances by most o f the factors examined in table 1 of this study than students in the public secondary schools with a mean agreement of 38 percent, although, pubic secondary students were better influenced by the quality of teaching manpower than their private secondary schools counterpart. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended among others, the need for the government to pay adequate priority attention to educational system, particularly, in the areas of making the public secondary schools satisfy the minimum education establishment standards and prosecuting proprietors of unapproved private schools to sustain minimum educational standards in Rivers State. Keywords: Academic Performance; Factors; Minimum Standards; Private Secondary Schools and Public Secondary Schools.