An assessment of the impact of demographic variables on students’ economic performance

Abstract

Economics as a subject is regarded as the bedrock of all management and social science-based disciplines. The persistently low level of students’ achievement in Economics in senior secondary school (SSS II) examinations has become a thing of great concern to all stakeholders. This study examined students’ performance in the SSS II Economics qualifying examination in Kano State and the influence of gender and schools’ nature on their performances in Economics. An ex-post-facto design of descriptive research was adopted for the study. A proforma was used to collect data from a sample of 300 students, selected using a stratified random sampling procedure from the secondary schools in Kano State, Nigeria. The data collected were the students’ performances in the Economics achievement test. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and an independent sample t-test. Overall, the results showed that students performed above average and a significant gender difference exists in Economics performance. Keywords: Economics, qualifying examination, students’ performance;