The Quality of School-Based Practices in Enhancing Secondary School Students’ National Examination Achievement in Ethiopia

This research dealt with identifying the predictive quality of secondary school students’ classroom achievement on national examination results. A correlation survey design with a concurrent mixed approach to data was used. Data were obtained from existing school archives through careful identification of subjects where the 25 top achievers in each one of the four sampled schools were considered (n=100). Moreover, references were made to key-informant principals (n=2), officers (n=2) and secondary school teachers (n=40) for complementary purposes. The findings revealed that students’ school-based achievements were strong predictors of the national examination results in some schools (r2=.82) whereas they were weak predictors in others (r2 =.29). In that, there was a significant difference between public and private schools on the level of prediction. There was also a significant difference in the level of prediction among private schools themselves. Findings showed a shortage in classroom arrangements and facilities, weak experiential exchanges and guidance services, and a shortage in identifying model skills among teachers and students to have been the bottleneck issues in enhancing the quality of school-based preparation for the national examination.