The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between musical self-concept and musical creativity, and to determine the best predictors of musical creativity given the musical self-concept dimensions. Participants (N = 201) were music students, drawn from 21 secondary schools in Kenya. Music Self-perception Inventory-Version 2 (MUSPI) was used to gather data on participants' musical self-concept. Musical creativity was measured using the Consensual Musical Creativity Assessment Scale (CMCAS). Results indicated a positive relationship between musical self-concept and musical creativity (r = .25, p < .01). All the musical self-concept dimensions, except singing and dancing showed positive associations with musical creativity. Further, a significant mean difference in musical creativity for positive and negative musical self-concept was observed. Multiple regression indicated that the best predictors of musical creativity were sense of rhythm and dancing self-concepts and the strongest predictor of musical creativity was sense of rhythm self-concept. A significant gender difference in musical creativity was observed, with males scoring higher than females. However, there was no significant difference in participants' musical creativity based on age. The study recommends interventions and conducive environments for the development of positive musical self-concept.

The purpose of this study was to (a) establish the relationships among achievement goal motivation, cognitive learning strategies, and musical creativity; (b) determine the best predictors of musical creativity among the study variables. Participants ( N = 201) were secondary school music students in Kenya. Two self-report measures, the Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised (AGQ-R) and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were used in data collection for the independent variables. Musical creativity was measured by a creative composition task and evaluated according to four dimensions of musical craftsmanship, syntax, originality and aesthetic sensitivity. The results showed that musical creativity was positively correlated with mastery-approach goal and deep processing learning strategy but negatively correlated with surface processing strategy, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. The best predictor of musical creativity was deep processing strategy, β = .45, p < .01, which accounted for approximately 26% of the variance in participants’ musical creativity, followed by mastery-approach goal, β = .27, p < .01, R2 =.09. The implication for music education is that music teachers should create conducive environments and adopt teaching strategies that nurture mastery-approach goal orientation and deep processing learning strategies to enhance musical creativity

Students in Kenya have been performing poorly in mathematics in both primary and secondary schools, with the majority of the students scoring below average. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which academic self-concept correlates with mathematics achievement of secondary school students in Nairobi County. The study targeted 9,641 Form 3 students in public secondary schools that had registered students for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations for the past three years. A sample of 500 respondents was drawn using stratified and simple random sampling. A questionnaire that included items from the Academic Self-Concept Questionnaire was used to measure academic self-concept. The average score in mathematics for three consecutive terms was used as the mathematics achievement for each participant. The results from the study showed that academic self-concept positively and significantly predicted mathematics achievement. Based on findings, this article includes recommendations on effective ways that teachers, parents, and other stakeholders can help increase students&rsquo; academic self-concept and boost students&rsquo; mathematics achievement.

This research investigated the impact of academic advising on student retention in distance learning

Academic performance is one of the important aspects of a student’s life and therefore it is important to understand the factors that hinder or promote it. Various researches on factors affecting performance have been done, however there is little local research on how family structure affects academic performance. This study examined students’ academic performance vis-à-vis single and two parent family structures. It also investigated if there were any gender differences in academic performance as determined by parental marital status. The target population was form three students in day secondary schools of Dagoretti Sub District, Nairobi County, Kenya. The sample of the study consisted of 196 students drawn from five day secondary schools. The study used descriptive survey and ex post facto methodology. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the schools and classes for the study respectively. Questionnaires and class achievement records were used to collect data. The data was analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), t-test and Chi-square test at significance level of 0.05. The study found no relationship between parental marital status and students’ academic performance as majority of students, regardless of family structure, performed equally poorly with a mean grade of less than ‘C’. The results showed that there was no difference in the academic performance of students from single and two parent families (P=0.776). Additionally, the results indicated that there was no significant difference in the academic performance of male and female students from single and two parent families (P=0.348) and altogether these outcomes established that there was no bearing between parental marital status and students’ academic performance (P=0.873). On the basis of this finding, it was recommended that parents and schools/teachers should provide necessary conduciveness to all learners to deal with the challenges they face at home and school, in order to obtain desired academic performance.