Bridging the Gap Towards Students' Betterment

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

This study is concerned with the environmental factors that served as a gap towards students' better performance in school. Poor academic performance has been a perennial problem confronting the members of the academe—teachers, administrator, and students themselves. There are factors in school and at home that the researcher believes to be strong determinants in students' performance. There are students who are academically challenged and low in academic performance despite the remediation activities given by the teachers. Some of the students really find it hard to get good grades. The researcher recognizes and holds on the foregoing concepts that made her interested in bridging the gap towards students' betterment in terms of getting poor performance in school.

METHODS

The descriptive research design was used in this study with 100 grade 12 senior high school students of Tanauan City Integrated High School as respondents. In addition, a semi-structured interview was employed containing both structured and unstructured interviews. The interviewer prepared a set of similar questions to be answered by all interviewees. At the same time, additional questions were asked during interviews to clarify and/or further expand certain issues.

RESULTS

The following significant findings were presented to enlighten the readers' minds: The home environment composed of the family's economic status, parents' educational attainment, parents' occupation, family members, and location of the house from school were varied and played an important role in the performance of the students in school. It showed that the students' perception of a teacher-related factor in terms of teaching strategy, personality traits, and teaching skills were "very good". About the student-related factor, it showed that the students themselves had failed in performing their tasks as students in achieving good academic performance in terms of interest and study habits. In terms of facilities in the school, the students were not really satisfied with its condition and functionality. The mean average of the respondents in their grades in the first grading significantly differed.

DISCUSSIONS

This means that the home and school environment are factors that affect the performance of the students in school. Based on the result, an action plan is proposed and to be implemented in the school to address all the concerns and needs of the students based on the study conducted.