Effect of Student Teams- Achievement Division Strategy on Gender-Based Learner Performance in Secondary School Accounting in Kajiado County, Kenya.

Abstract:

The study investigated the effect of Student Teams- Achievement Division (STAD) instructional strategy on learners’ achievement in Accounting with respect to gender in secondary schools in Kajiado County, Kenya. A quasi-experimental research design based on Solomon four-group model was employed. A sample of 211 form three learners from four gender- mixed public secondary schools, alongside six teachers of Business Studies, participated in the study. An objective to determine whether there was a significant difference in achievement between male and female learners taught using the STAD strategy guided the study. The research was anchored in social interdependence theory and Lev Vygotsky's Constructivist theory. Learners were assigned to two experimental groups and two control groups using stratified and random sampling. The experimental groups were taught using STAD strategy, while the control groups received conventional instruction. A pilot study involving 46 students and two teachers of Business Studies was conducted to refine the instruments in a non- participating school. Data were collected using validated Accounting Achievement Tests administered before and after the intervention to students and interview schedule for teachers of Business Studies. Reliability was established using KR-20 coefficients (0.72 and 0.74) for achievement tests. The test scores were standardized into T-scores and data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including t-tests, one-way ANOVA and two-way ANOVA at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed a significant main effect of instructional strategy, with learners exposed to STAD outperforming those taught using conventional methods. However, no statistically significant gender differences were found in learners’ achievement under the STAD strategy, t(101) = 0.147, p > 0.05. Similarly, the interaction effect between gender and instructional group was not significant, F(1, 207) = 2.28, p > 0.05, indicating that the strategy benefited both male and female learners equally. The study concluded that STAD is an effective and gender-neutral instructional strategy for enhancing achievement in Accounting. It is therefore recommended that teachers adopt cooperative learning strategies such as STAD to heighten academic performance across genders while promoting equity in classroom learning outcomes.