Abstract

The study investigated the influence of school type, school population and socioeconomic status of parents on secondary students' academic performance. Three hypotheses were postulated and tested at .05 level of significance. Survey research design was adopted to conduct the study. Participants included 680 students of public and private secondary schools in Akinyele L.GA of Oyo State selected through a simple random technique. Their age range was between 14- 18 yrs with a mean age of 15.7 yrs. The instruments used for data collection was a self-designed questionnaire that contain information on the independent variables and WASCE 2003/2004 results of participants. Results of data analysis using zero- order correlation and t-test statistical procedure indicated that the parental SES, school type, school population and general school environment can make a significant contribution to students' academic performance. On the basis of these findings, suggestions and recommendations were articulated