Intervention Strategies to Improve Students¡¯ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands in Kenya

Fullan (2007) defined school as a community of active people where teachers in a classroom environment convey formal education to learners. A school therefore facilitates education. Schools, whether government aided or private sponsored, have stakeholders who undertake various activities. In light of this, students¡¯ academic performance has been a key issue in education with many believing that the education programmes are not well interpreted in schools; thus resulting in poor academic performance. This has resulted into finger pointing among stake holders. However, the fact of the matter is that something should be done to improve the current situation. Kaggwa (2003) explained academic performance as the quality and quantity of knowledge, skills, techniques and positive attitudes, behaviors and philosophy that students achieve. The World Bank (2002) further observes that this achievement is evaluated by the mark or grade that student attain in tests or examinations done at the end of the topic, term or year or education cycle. Hence, the quality of the grades and the number of students that pass in various grades determine the level of academic performance. Academic performance is, therefore, a concern of people who have vested interest in schools. They may include parents, students, teachers, proprietors and the entire society that forms the school as a community. Unless all stakeholders are involved, school achievements including students¡¯ performance may not be realized (Dervitsiotis, 2004). Every student has the potential to learn and become a responsible citizen if given a conducive environment. Therefore, it is worth mentioning that intervening at the earliest stages, can lead to students¡¯ success. Intervention can be defined as the systematic and explicit instruction provided to accelerate growth in an area of identified need (Kaggwa, 2003). Interventions can be provided by both special and general teachers and they are designed to improve performance relative to a specific, measurable goal. Interventions are generally based on valid information about current performance, whereby realistic implementation and ongoing student progress monitoring are essential. Therefore, for any intervention to be effective, the programmes designed should be based on clearly defined objectives, and the program should be monitored and evaluated (Kaggwa, 2003). More particularly, students¡¯ needs should be analyzed and programs should be designed to address these. Of more importance is that intervention strategies should not be implemented because they are popular or interesting. Rather, they should be able to address the needs of the students in their institution, given that schools operate in different contexts; hence, no one size fits all. Approaches will vary according to the school context. Student support programmes, behavior modification, life skills programmes, parental involvement and capacity building are some intervention strategies to enhance students¡¯ performance (Kaggwa, 2003).