Influence of Strategic Plans Execution on Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Tigania West Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic plans are considered to be very important in the management and success of organizations. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of strategic plans execution on academic performance in public secondary schools in Tigania West Sub County, Meru County, Kenya. The study was based on the systems theory. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and correlation research design. The study targeted 32 public day and boarding secondary schools in Tigania Sub County with the main focus on school principals, and the Head of Departments (H.O.Ds) of six departments. The study purposively sampled all the subjects in the population making a sample size of 224. Questionnaire and interview schedule were used as research instruments. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics which involved the use of frequencies, percentages, standard deviation and mean. Use of multiple regressions helped the researcher to explain the level of influence by each independent variable on the dependent variable. All the null hypotheses were rejected and hence all the predictor variables had significant influence on academic performance. The study established that a comprehensive situational analysis is not carried out during the development of the strategic plan. The study also established that financial strategy had significant influence on academic performance in public secondary schools. It was also established that the respondents were not sure whether the tasks to be monitored were properly identified during the development of the strategic plan and whether these tasks were allocated to the available personnel according to their capability. Monitoring strategy of the strategic plans execution was found to highly influence academic performance in Tigania West Sub County. The study also established that most schools had not embraced strategic plan evaluation policies that could help in improving academic performance. The study recommended that schools should carry out proper situational analysis involving all relevant stakeholders before the development of the strategic plans. It was also recommended that the principals and head of departments in schools should enhance monitoring the execution of strategic plans. Frequent evaluations for the strategic plans execution were also recommended