A Literature Review of Academic Performance
A Literature Review of Academic Performance
A Literature Review of Academic Performance
Abstract
The good academic performance of students at the Senior High School is of paramount
importance in every educational system. Meanwhile, numerous factors influence the
academic performance of students and have been researched, but many problems
persist. A literature review in this area would provide the gaps and areas that need
more research and will go a long way to curb the situation. The current paper used a
narrative review method to review the literature on the academic performance of
students at Senior High Schools and various factors affecting students’ performance.
The paper elucidated how these factors negatively affect academic performance and the
need for them to be minimized to improve students’ academic performance. The study
found out that, truancy affects academic performance drastically and sometimes even
leads to school dropout. Also, the study found out that other factors such as students’
parental levels of education and income, textbooks availability and accessibility,
libraries, practical laboratory, meals provision and teachers have tremendous effects on
the academic performance of students at school. Students who are above average
academically and are positively exposed to these factors are likely to perform better as
compared to those who are less exposed to these factors. The study recommends that
factors such as truancy, parental levels of education and income, textbooks availability
and accessibility, libraries, practical laboratory, meals provision and teachers should be
regularly monitored and adjusted to meet students’ needs and aspirations. This will go
a long way to improve the academic performance of students and hence allow them to
achieve their aims in life.
Keywords
Academic Performance, Factors, Parents, Teachers
1. Introduction
It is highly significant to note that a human being’s entire existence is commonly based
on the amount of knowledge he or she acquires, how much this knowledge is utilized in
developing himself, his country, and the world at large. This explains the reason
underlying the need for education. The basic thing that one gets from education is
knowledge. One gets to know about various things ranging from Mathematics to
History, Literature to Political Science [1] . The worldly knowledge we gain from
education plays a great role in our future life and helps us to understand the
happenings in a much more cohesive manner. Meanwhile, educational success is a
measure based on the academic performance of students.
Educators and researchers have long been interested in exploring variables contributing
to the quality of academic performance of learners. Academic performance is affected
by many factors including parents’ education levels and income, teachers’ knowledge of
the subject, truancy, textbooks availability and accessibility, libraries, practical
laboratory, meals provision and many other factors [2] . The home environment has
been recognized as having a lot of influence on academic performance. Children who
experience poverty may live in physical environments that offer less stimulation and
fewer resources for learning. Education at the secondary school level is supposed to be
the bedrock and the foundation towards higher knowledge in tertiary institutions [3] .
Consistent lower academic performance at the Senior High School is a threat to every
country’s educational system, especially Ghana. There is therefore the need to review
the literature on academic performance, and insight into factors and their influences on
academic outcomes of students at Senior High Schools. This is one way or the other
could help expose some gaps in the literature and other issues that have been favoured
by research and publications. This study has been structured to review literature on
factors and their influences on academic outcomes of students at senior high schools.
2. Methods
The study used a narrative review method to find out how the academic performance of
students is affected by their needs in the school. To achieve this, the researchers
employed search styles and methods from previous studies [4] [5] with few
modifications. The modifications included the search terms (academic performance,
teachers and academic performance, students and academic performance, hunger and
academic performance etc.) and phrases since the study papers are of different topics
and scope and hence the modification. Search terms employed in the current study
included but not limited to academic performance, Senior High School student's
performance, students attendance to the library, the importance of meals in academic
performance, truancy and academic performance, parents’ income and academic
performance, textbooks and academic performance, etc.
4. Conclusion
The study was designed to review the literature on the influences of various needs of
students on their academic performance. The study revealed that truancy affects
academic performance drastically and sometimes even leads to school dropout. Also,
the study finds out that other factors such as students’ parents’ levels of education and
income, textbooks availability and accessibility, libraries, practical laboratory, meals
provision and teachers have tremendous effects on the academic performance of
students at school. Students who are above average academically, positively exposed
to these factors are likely to perform better as compared to those who are less exposed
to these factors.
Recommendations
The study recommends that factors such as truancy, parents’ levels of education and
income, textbooks availability and accessibility, libraries, practical laboratory, meals
provision and teachers should be regularly monitored and adjusted to meet students’
needs and aspirations. Specifically, truancy negatively affects academic performance
and should be eradicated. Also, most parents should be educated on the importance of
educating their wards. Policymakers or funding should be invested in implementation
research since some of these are available yet the intended coverage is not achieved.
This will go a long way to improve the academic performance of students and hence
allow them to achieve their aims in life.
Limitations
The study was limited in that, it did was a narrative review by not a systematic one and
hence various events were not presented in a chronological other.
Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Gadafi Iddrisu Balali of the Department of
Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology, Kumasi, Ghana and who also doubled as the CEO of MicoTech Research
Group for his intellectual guidance. We also wish to acknowledge Dr. George Oduro
Okyireh of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Akenten Appiah-Menka
University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED), Mampong
Campus, Ashanti, Ghana for his time and assistance in expurgation of the manuscript.
Funding
This was funded by the authors.
Availability of Supporting Data
All data used for this manuscript are available upon a reasonable request.
Contributions
AB conceptualized the study. All authors contributed equally in the drafting, editing and
finally reviewing the manuscript for publication.