Comparative analysis of students’ achievement in senior school certificate further mathematics examinations in Kwara State, Nigeria (2007-2016): Implication for stakeholders in education

Abstract

This study explored the trends in students’ achievement in Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in Further Mathematics in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive research design of ex-post factor type. The sample comprised all Further Mathematics students in 79 public senior secondary schools with 3 Local Government Areas in Kwara State. Two research questions were raised and answered in the study. Frequency count, Percentage and Autoregressive (AR) processes for modelling of time series analyses were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that the trend of students’ achievement in WASSCE Further Mathematics from 2007 to 2016 was stochastic with random walk steadily progressive and percentage of the students obtained credit ranged from 23.0 to 77.3; pass ranged from 18.2 to 72.2 and fail ranged from 0.0 to 25.8. It was recommended among others that stakeholders in education should improve the quest for scientific literacy particularly for science-based subjects and further Mathematics curriculum should be all inclusive and non-discriminating to allow development of problem solving ability