Examining the Relationship between Learning Context, School Choice, and Academic Performance: A Study of Government-Assisted Adventist Secondary Schools in the Ashanti, Ghana

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the association between the learning context, school choice, and academic performance. An Embedded Mixed Methods design was applied within the framework of the pragmatic research paradigm. The target population consisted of 5 Government-Assisted Adventist secondary schools in the Ashanti Region, Ghana, with 27,388 students and stakeholders. The study involved a sample of 396; 200 students and 196 stakeholders (management and teachers, old students, pastors, church members, and parents). Sampling strategies included simple random, stratified random, purposive, and snowball due to the diversity of the respondents. The data were analysed using ANOVA, Correlation, Crosstabulation, and documentary techniques. The findings indicated a significant difference between Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) and West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) performance with p-values of .016 and .000, respectively, P<.05 at a 95% Confidence Interval. There was a significant correlation between the learning context standard and parental school choice. The results showed that schools with low-standard learning contexts mainly attract average and low-performing applicants. The study suggests enhancing the learning context standards of less-endowed secondary schools to boost their competitiveness. Policymakers are urged to incorporate diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment approaches in evaluating secondary schools, taking into account their learning context to ensure fairness, reliability, and equity.