CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

School choice is an umbrella concept covering different types of programs allowing parents to choose their children’s school (Teske & Schneider, 2001). It can be defined as “any alternative to traditional public education that provides parents a degree of discretion in the selection of the school their children will” (Herrmann, Burroughs, & Plucker, 2009).

Currently in America, school choice programs exist in various forms. Cookson (1994) listed school choice programs as follows: intra-district, inter-district, inter-sectional, magnet schools, second chance programs, charter schools, and voucher plans. Depending on the scholar’s perspective, school choice can be divided into several forms.

For example, Ogawa and Dutton (1994) used “the balance of decentralized and centralized control” (p. 271) as one criterion to categorize four currently prevalent school choice programs: magnet schools, charter schools, inter-district transfers and public/private vouchers.

The situation that school choice programs came out of a public agency’s control and moved into the area of market mechanism is defined as decentralized control. The authors described magnet schools as the most centrally controlled form of school choice because existing education agencies have the authority to manage the system.

Whereas, they placed public/private voucher plans on the opposite end of a continuum as the plans give control to parents and individual schools. Charter schools and open enrollment programs are placed between the two ends of the continuum. Although school choice programs share some common characteristics in terms of providing school choice to parents and students, they differ from each other and have different policy goals to achieve.

Among the various types of school choice programs, three school choice programs have been emphasized as new types of school choice to reform the monopoly of public schools and improve public school quality: open enrollment, charter schools, and educational vouchers.

        The basic idea of school choice comes from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1778) and Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man (1969). They argued that because the benefit of education is beyond the individual level and contributes to the whole society, the government should provide funds to families, which would provide even poor families with the same educational opportunities available to wealthy families (Metcalf & Legan, 2002).

However, the contemporary notion of school choice was proposed almost half a century ago by Milton Friedman (Levin, 2002). Friedman (1995) argued that the radical reconstruction of education system could be achieved by privatizing the educational system.

He believed that a government monopoly needed to be replaced with a free market of competitors and thought that schools would provide a high quality of education under competition between schools for students. However, he did not deny the role of government in education and admitted that it would be impossible to sweep away the existing educational system.

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

School choice has been one of the most controversial reforms aimed at improving public school quality. A variety of forms of school choice programs have been implemented across the states and have gained more popularity among people with school aged children.

Increasingly, more states have chosen to adopt legislation providing school choice and more districts have chosen to develop and implement diverse school choice programs.

Finally, several research has been carried out on the school based factors influencing student’s academic performance at Kenya certificate of secondary education in Teso south district but not even a single research has been carried out on the effect of school choice on academic performance of senior secondary school students in Makurdi local government area of Benue state.

1. AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main aim and objectives of the study is to determine the effect of school choice on academic performance of senior secondary school students. Other specific objectives of the study include;

1. to determine the extent to which school choice affects academic performance of senior secondary school students.
2. to determine the relationship between school choice and academic performance.
3. to examine the factors affecting school choice and its effect on the academic performance of senior secondary school students.
4. to proffer possible solutions to the problems.
   1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the extent to which school choice affects academic performance of senior secondary school students?

2.     What is the relationship between school choice and academic performance?

3.     What is the factors affecting school choice and its effect on the academic performance of senior secondary school students?

4.     What are the possible solutions to the problems?

1. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Ho:  School choice has no significant effect on the academic performance of senior secondary school students.

Hi:   School choice has a significant effect on the academic performance of senior secondary school students.

1. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study on the effect of school choice on academic performance of senior school students will be of immense benefit to the entire Makurdi local government area of Benue state in the sense that it will enable them to erect more classrooms and laboratories should be provided and equipped to standard. It will also encourage teachers to be enforced to use the available instructional materials during classroom instruction.

Finally, the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge to this field of study and basis for further research.

1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study on the effect of school choice on academic performance of senior secondary school students is limited to Makurdi local government area of Benue state.

1. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Time Constraints: One of the challenges experienced by the researcher is the issue of time; the research will simultaneously engage in departmental activities like seminars and attendance to lectures. But the researcher was able to meet up with the deadline for the submission of the project.

Financial Constraints: Every research work needs funding; however lack of adequate funds might affect the speed of the researcher in getting materials for completion of the project.

1.9   DEFINITION OF TERMS

Effect:     A change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.

School:    An institution for educating children.

Choice:    An act of choosing between two or more possibilities.

Academic performance: Academic performance is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals.