PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF BALE ZONE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the practices and challenges of school principals in the implementation of school improvement program in secondary school. In this study descriptive survey research design was used with both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. In this Zone, there are 18Woredas, and 3 administrative towns ; Among these ,8 woreda and 2 administrative town were selected by using simple random sampling techniques .For this study the total population size and total sample size were 620 and 292 respondents respectively. Of the total sample size of the five groups, the composition involved 222teachers, 20school leaders, 10 supervisors, 10 educational experts and 30PTSA members as sources of information. Questionnaires, interview and group discussion were used as instrument of data collection. Data were analyzed using both descriptive, i.e. percentage, frequencies, mean and narrative descriptions. The findings of the study indicated that schools principal in secondary schools of Bale zone did not implement SIP properly. Furthermore, the principals did not identify the alternative strategies to improve SIP, whereas lack of the involvement of the stakeholders and lack of monitoring and guiding of the educational experts were the most problems of principals in while planning and implementing of SIP. In addition, the school principals were not committed and didn’t give equal considerations for the implementation of school improvement program domains. The implication is that the contribution of SIP for the important of the teaching-learning process and thus, academic achievements of the learners will be minimal. Based on the finding, some recommendations were suggested. First, school principals are advised to conduct self-assessment and prioritize the problems when planning, organizing, monitoring and evaluating the SIP. Second, Woreda and zonal education administrators would provide principals with management related training on the implementation of SIP, give directives and guidelines to fill gaps are observed, and the school principals should organize and create better SIP. Finally, principals are advice to work closely with stakeholders particularly with Woreda education office, school community and societies at large.