project topic and material on  Students’ Academic Performance

project topic and material on  Students’ Academic Performance

Academic performance is define as individual or self-defining complete performance in the domains of school, sports and work, however, “achievement” is conceptualized by meaning of “competence,” which has a substantial impact on emotion and well-being (Dweck and Elliott in Olatunde, 2010). Academic performance is how well an individual has done his cognitive tasks (Avosehin, Dahiru, Shamin, Lukwago, 2014). The authors explain further that it is the general ability of students concerning their offered subjects compared to a specified standard called pass mark. To them, this pass mark was relative and can be arbitrarily defined as 40% or 50%. According to Aremu and Adika, (2001) academic performance refer to the criterion of excellence as well as the attainment of success of a student in his/her school work among his/her classmates. Tomporouski, Philip, Catherine, Paricia et al (2008) are of the opinion that academic performance is the outcome of education, the extent to which student, teacher or institution had achieved their educational goals. They further stress that academic performance is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment, but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are most important procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts.

Academic performance is concerned with the quality and quantity of learning attained in a subject or group of subjects after a long period of instruction. Competence is operative across the life span, and it is obvious in all individuals across cultural boundaries (Dweck, 2005; Geppert and Halisch, 2001). Majority of researchers found that academic performance involved self-efficacy beliefs, which means perceived self-efficacy in one’s capabilities for the academic domain that contributed independently to academic performance (Pajares and Schunk, 2001). Moreover, firm belief in one’s self-efficacy yields the endurance that is exemplified by children’s beliefs, which can regulate their own learning. Hejazi, Shahraray, Farsinejad, and Asgary (2009) demonstrate that academic self-efficacy beliefs had a mediating effect on the association between academic achievement and identity styles. On the other hand, Bandura (1997) define self-efficacy as a cognitive resource that encompasses an individual’s belief or confidence in one’s capability to effectively function in behaviuors toward desired goals.

The indicators for academic performance include standard test scores, grade point average (GPA), and self-perceived academic performance (Ma, Phelps, Lerner and Lerner 2009). Vonstumni, Sophie, Hell, Benedict et al, (2011) opine that individual differences influencing academic performance, individual intelligence and personality of student influenced their academic performance. They further emphasized that students with higher mental ability grabbed faster than those with low mental ability in the classroom academic performance were been measured. Academic achievement increased the adolescent’s motivation, well-being, and achievement (Eccles and Roeser, 2009). Additionally, lack of academic performance predicts lower self-esteem, motivation, and dropping out of school (Ma et al, 2009).Therefore, academic performance refers to the learning outcomes of an individual with the knowledge, skills and ideas acquired and retained through their course of study within and outside the classroom situation.

All students are required to maintain a satisfactory academic record and meet the obligations of the course in which they are enrolled. Failure to do so will be dealt with as the school and its designated boards shall determine. In educational institutions, success is measured by academic performance or how well a student meets standards set out by local government and the institution itself. Although education is not the only road to success in the working world, much effort is made to identified, evaluate, track and encouraged the progress of students in schools (Oludipe and Oludipe 2009). Parents care about their child’s academic performance because, they believe good academic results will provide more career choices and job security. Generally, performance referred to an accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness, and speed