PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION IN GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPPIA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the Practice and Challenges of School Improvement Program Implementation in secondary schools of West Hararghe Zone. In this study descriptive survey research design was used with both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. In this Zone there are 17 districts; among these 9 of them were selected by using stratified random sampling techniques. For this study total populations size and total sample size were 474 and 356 respondents respectively. The total sample size included 167 teachers, 126 school leaders, 9 supervisors and 9 Student representatives and 9 district education officers as sources of information from the 9 selected secondary schools. The sampling techniques employed were stratified random sampling for teachers; purposive sampling techniques for school leaders, supervisors, district Education officer and student representatives. The collected data through close ended questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency, percentages; mean, weighted mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data found. The data collected through open- ended questions, semi structured interview and document review were analyzed qualitatively by narration. Findings of the revealed that the phases and teaching learning domain of school improvement program were moderately implemented with a weighted mean value 2.65 and 2.71 respectively however leadership and management domain of the program was implemented at low level in the study area. Generally, it was found that the sampled schools were not performed well in the phases of School improvement program implementation and most of activities across the two domains were not fully implemented. This negatively affected the implementation of the program. Besides, the finding of the study indicated as there was gab on the side of school leaders in discharging their roles and responsibilities and using different strategies on the implementation of school improvement program with the weighted mean 2.38 and 2.42 respectively. Moreover, the study clearly showed the challenges of School Improvement Program implementation were lack of budget, learning facilities, lack of financial and material resources, lack of commitment on the side of teachers and school leaders, low capacity of teachers, inadequate block grant budget allocation by district education offices, lack of awareness, lack of community participation on SIP implementation, lack of technical skills of leaders which affect the implementation of school improvement program and in turn the teaching learning process and students’ academic achievement with weighted mean 3.7 which indicates the seriousness of the problems. Hence it is suggested that School leaders needs discharge their responsibilities in implementing school improvement program and they have to use the strategy designed by Ministry of Education. School, district education offices, Zone Education offices Regional Education Bureau and Ministry of Education needs to provide continuous technical assistance for stakeholders and allocate budget and fulfilling school facilities and materials as to implement school improvement program.