Effect of Development Interventions and Demographic Factors on Academic Performance of Students

Abstract

Thisstudy examined theeffect of 13 development intervention modules and demographic characteristics such as gender, family income and parents' education on academic achievement of school students.The respondents of the study were grade 9, 10 and 11 studentsfrom 4 different schools in the three emirates of UAE:Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah. Education is a very costly project for the expatriate community in the Middle East. Hence it becomes imperative to analyze and understand the factors affecting the performance of learners so that the desired results are obtained. Moreover, there is a pressing need to bring to the attention of the parents, especially in the gulf region, about the impact of their educational background and income on the performance of their wards. Academic achievement was measured in terms of the average of Summative Assessment Exams of the students in the previous academic years. A structured questionnaire was administered among the sample group. This study found gender to be a strong predictor of academic achievement of students. Father's education and mother's education were found to be potent predictors of academic achievement of students in this study. It was found that family income was not a predictor of academic achievement of students. Students from middle income families were found to have higher academic scores compared to those belonging to lower and higher income groups.Only 3 of the development interventions, namely; Academic Coaching, Memory Techniques and Aptitude testing were found to have significant predictive relationship with academic achievement of students.