PREDICTORS OF STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE AT SECONDARY LEVEL IN FORMAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN

Examination is an instrument to investigate, examine and explore the potential and weaknesses of the students and helps to promote them to the next grade. Students’ performance in final examination can be predicted by a number of factors. This study was carried out to investigate the predictors of students’ performance in final examination at secondary level in Pakistan. 64 Govt. colleges of boys and girls from the rural and urban areas of the Province of Punjab, Pakistan under the jurisdiction of eight Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education were selected through stratified proportionate random sampling technique. The sample of the study included 541 students’ of higher secondary level studding in first year of college at Govt. Colleges of the Punjab, Pakistan. The study was delimited only to the compulsory subjects (English, Urdu and Islamic studies) to be taught during the first year of college. Three variables (Students marks in Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Attendance during the first year of college, Record of class tests) were tested to identify the predictors of students’ performance in final examination. Data was collected from the offices of concerned colleges and were analyzed with the help of regression coefficient by using SPSS version 15.0. The findings of the study revealed that class tests and students marks in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) are the significant predictor of students’ performance in final examination in all of the three core subjects (English, Urdu and Islamic Studies), whereas the class attendance in the subject of Urdu shows significant impact on the performance of the students in the final examination.