This study examined the predictive power of quantitative and verbal aptitudes on the performance of senior secondary school students in Economics. The study arose from the poor performance of students in the Senior School Certificate Examination and the General Certificate in Education Economics. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Multistage sampling technique was employed in selecting a total of three hundred and thirty senior secondary two Economics students from ten schools comprising of five private and five public schools. Data were gathered with three test instruments, namely the Economics Achievement Test, the Quantitative Aptitude Test and the Verbal Aptitude Test. The reliability coefficient was established using Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient and was found to be 0.86 for the first test, 0.81 for the second and 0.93 for the last. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and multiple regression of the SPSS. The findings revealed that quantitative and verbal aptitudes have predictive power on the performance of senior secondary school students in Economics. However, quantitative aptitude has more predictive power (B = 0.339) than verbal aptitude (B = 0.206). Based on the findings, it is recommended that school authorities should provide learning materials that will promote the acquisition of quantitative and verbal skills; teachers should use appropriate teaching methods and promote high-order thinking and logical reasoning in the students; and government should recruit adequate and qualified teachers to teach Economics, quantitative and verbal related subjects.

Abstract This study used qualitative research method to investigate the views of students and teachers of a private secondary school in Lagos State, Nigeria on whether higher grading standards motivate students. The study was prompted by the decision of the management of the school to increase its grading standard. To guide the study, 10 students and 7 teachers participated in the study. Data were generated using interview technique which centred on three objectives or themes of the study. However, the second objective of the study was targeted at the students, while the third objective or theme was targeted at the teachers. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the perceptions of the students and teachers. The findings revealed that higher grading standards motivate students to study harder and that higher standards benefit both high-achievers and low-achievers. Considering that the study was the first attempt to investigate the issue as it concerns Nigeria, suggestions were made on future studies.  

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The purpose of this paper is to make a case for school leaders in rural schools in Nigeria to build effective engagements with their communities in improving school attendance rate.  The state of rural education in Nigeria has been a concern going by the fact that rural communities have the highest number of school dropouts and illiterate people. No country can make headway with a large army of illiterates and school dropouts because education is regarded as an instrument for national transformation. A good number of rural students do not show commitment towards attendance. While the government is often looked upon to address this issue, there seems to be limited focus on rural schools, especially the role of leadership, in addressing the challenge. Therefore, the paper proposes that rural school leaders should adopt a multi-actor approach in engaging their communities to mobilise both human and material resources in addressing poor student attendance and other school challenges associated with the problem. The paper also proposes an approach or a model of engagement.