APPLYING MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION ON THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF POPO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Jim Boy E. Tubigon

Teacher
Popo Elementary School

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out the significant influence of predictors in
academic performance of pupils of Popo Elementary School, General Roxas District,
Davao City. Descriptive-predictive research design using probability sampling stratified
random technique was employed in this study in selecting the 100 pupils as respondents
.The results were statistically analyzed and submitted for statistical treatment using mean
and standard deviation. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the influence
between the predictors and pupils’ academic performance. Results showed that among
the 5 predictors, only 3 variables, which are the pupils’ attendance, reading habit and
nutritional status significantly influence the academic performance of the respondents. It
is recommended in this study that the significant predictors should be improved by
effective intervention to increase the academic performance of the pupils.

Introduction
Educators, parents, and the department of education are
continuously aiming for a better education to the young ones. Many
researchers stressed out that there are many contributing factors that can
affect pupil’s performance in the school. In the real scenario, most of the
teachers insisted that pupils’ attendance, parent’s economic status,
reading habits and nutritional status could greatly affect the academic
performance of the pupils in the school. But some key officials of the
department said that the teachers’ classroom practices are the main factor
of poor academic performance of the pupils. There is a wide
dissatisfaction with the current situation of schooling in many countries
and parents come in for the share of the blame.
 Smith (1998), in his study, emphasizes that attendance is a priority
for educators. This study investigates attendance in the primary grades.
The goal is to identify early indicators of poor attendance at the primary
level in order to provide interventions that could have an impact on middle
and high school students’ attendance. Research conducted in this area
could provide school divisions with vital information about student
attendance patterns at the primary level that could reveal or predict an
influence on student attendance in the middle and high school level.
Student absenteeism is listed as the number one problem in the
daily administration of the schools in the early 1970s, according to a
random sample of 500 members of the National Association of Secondary
School Principals (Defours, 1983; Rothman, 2001). Wright (1978) found a
significant difference in attendance to be associated with school location.
Also, he reported that courses offered, youthfulness of the teaching staff
and programs were factors associated with student attendance. Attention
to predictors within the family, society, individual circumstances, as well as
academic surroundings and materials are important factors to consider
when addressing school attendance. Excessive absenteeism affects
student achievement and performance, teacher instruction and
effectiveness, principal discipline, administration, and funding (U.S.
Department of Justice, 2001).
Graetz (1995) conducted a study on socio-economic status of the
parents of students and concluded that the socio economic background
has a great impact on student’s academic performance, main source of
educational imbalance among students and student’s academic success
contingent very strongly on parent’s socio economic standard. Considine
and Zappala (2002) also having the same views as Graetz (1995), in their
study on the influence of social and economic disadvantage in the
academic performance of school students noticed, where the parents or
guardians have social, educational and economical advantage definitely
strengthen the higher level success in future. But it is also noted that these
parents make available sufficient psychological and emotional shore up to
their children by providing good educational and learning environment that
produce confidence and the improvement of skills needed for success.
On other hand Pedrosa et.al (2006) in their study on social and
educational background pointed out those students who mostly come from
deprived socio-economic and educational background performed relatively
better than others coming from higher socio-economic and educational
area. They named this phenomena educational elasticity. It is obvious and
true that the criteria for categorizing socio-economic standard in different
countries are different depending of their norms and values. The criteria
for low socio-economic status for developed country will be different from
the criteria of developing nations and same will be in the case of
developing and under developing countries. “The total income of families,
monthly or annually and their expenditures also put a great effect on the
learning and academic opportunities accessible to youngsters and their
chances of educational success. Furthermore, he also pointed that due to
residential stratification and segregation, the students belonging to low-
income backgrounds usually attend schools with lower funding levels, and
this situation reduced achievement motivation of the students and high
risk of educational malfunction in future life endeavors”.
According to Palani (2012), reading habit is an essential and
important aspect for creating a literate society in this world. It shapes the
personality of individuals and it helps them to develop proper thinking
methods, and creates new ideas. However, the developments in the Mass
Media, had continued to influence interest in reading (hard copy of
literatures such as…) books, magazines and journals, among others.
Palani (2012) is of the opinion that, effective reading is important
avenue of effective learning and reading is interrelated with the total
educational process and hence, educational success requires successful
reading habit. He believes reading is the identification of the symbols and
the association of appropriate meaning with them. It requires identification
and comprehension. Comprehension skills help the learner to understand
the meaning of words in isolation and in context. Before the advent of the
television, both the young and the old found enough time to read. Apart
from teachers, other professionals used to spend their leisure time in
reading both English and vernacular literature. English medium schools
almost always demanded extra reading from their students. But all these
have become a thing of the past. Palani (2012) further added that,
nowadays, reading habit has lost its importance as both the young and the
old are glued to the television. As far as educational institutions are
concerned,
coaching students for the examinations seems to be the be-all and end-all
of our educational system.
A number of studies in Latin America, Africa and the U.S reported
that on intelligence tests, children with a history of malnutrition attained
lower scores than children of similar social and economic status who were
properly nourished (Fanzo 2012). Thus protein energy malnutrition, iron
deficiency, anaemia, Vitamin A deficiency, these poverty related
conditions decrease resistance to disease in general. Malnutrition
therefore causes illness, brain damage, delayed physical growth, delayed
development of motor skills and delayed intellectual development. In a
project carried out by the Institute of Central America and Panama in
2008, children and young adults in Guatemala who had received
nutritional supplements at infancy were studied to assess the influence of
early diet and poverty on later intellectual development. Individuals who
regularly consumed a highly nutritious supplement called Atole performed
well on most tests. But the performance of those given a less nutritious
supplement called fresco varied with poverty level (Ferguson et al. 2012:
453).
Class sizes have also been identified as determinants of academic
performance. Studies have indicated that schools with smaller class sizes
perform better academically than schools with larger class sizes. Asiedu-
Akrofi (1978) indicated that since children have differences in motivation,
interests and abilities and that they also differ in health, personal and
social adjustment and creativity generally good teaching is best done in
classes with smaller numbers that allow for individual attention.
In terms of National Achievement Test results, it shows that the
quality elementary education in the Philippines has deteriorated over the
years as indicated by the low achievement rates of students in 2007
especially in Science which is 64.81% only. It is very low compared to the
desired 75% cut-off score, (Carlos,et. Al., 2001).
Moreover, in Popo Elementary School, General Roxas District,
academic performance of pupils has been a major problem of the
teachers, the result of National Achievement Test (NAT) of Grade Six
pupils of school year 2013-2014 is far behind as compare to the National
MPS target goal of at least 75%. This is quite alarming to the part of
teachers teaching Mathematics so the use of appropriate teaching
strategy should be employed in the learning situation.ent) are included.
There is no significant influence of the predictors namely; pupils’
attendance, parent’s economic status, reading habits, nutritional status
and class size to the academic performance of the pupils.
The purpose of this study was to find out the influence of the
predictors on the pupils academic performance. Specifically, it attempts to
answer specific questions such as:
1. What is the level of that pupils’ attendance, parent’s economic
status, reading habits and class size of the pupils of Popo Elementary
School.
1.1 What is the profile of nutritional status of the pupils of Popo
Elementary School?
2. What is the level of academic performance of the pupils in Popo
Elementary school?
3. Which among the predictors significantly influence most the
academic performance of the pupils?
 4. What is the prediction model can explain the academic
performance of pupils of Popo Elementary School?
In this study, the following terminologies were defined operationally:
PUPILS’ ATTENDANCE refers to daily attendance of the pupils in
the class. It is identified using the School Form 2 or the Daily
Attendance Record;
PARENT’S ECONOMIC STATUS refers to the family income of the
parents of the pupils;
READING HABIT refers to the attitude of the pupils towards
reading. It generally refers to the pupils’ love of reading.
NUTRITIONAL STATUS refers to the physique condition of the
pupils.
CLASS SIZE refers to the number of pupils enrolled in a class.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE refers to the school academic
performance of the pupils. It includes an overall performance in all
learning areas as indicated in their report card

Methods
This study made used of descriptive-predictive research using
probability sampling-stratified random technique. Secondary data was
used in this study such as School Form 2, pupils’ anecdotal record,
classroom observation checklist and consolidated grading sheet. The
respondents were the 100 pupils of Popo Elementary School, General
roxas District, Davao City of school year 2014-20. The results were
statistically analyzed and submitted for statistical treatment using mean
and standard deviation. Multiple linear regression was also utilized to
determine the influence between the predictors and academic
performance of the pupils.The data collected were being analyzed
statistically interpreted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS) software (student version)
Results and Discussions
This section deals with the presentation, discussion and
interpretation of the results of the study. It is presented in textual and
tabular form.

Table 1. Level of Predictors affecting the Academic Performance of

the pupils

Indicator/ Variable n sd Mean Descriptive

Interpretation
pupils’ attendance 100 6.91 191.26 Average
economic status 1,045.91 3,408 Average
reading habits 1.50 4.00 Sometimes

class size 11.66 42.94 More

Table 1 shows the level of predictors influencing the pupils’

academic performance. Attendance obtained a (M=191.26; sd=6.91) with
a descriptive interpretation of average, which means that the pupils
sometimes absent in the class; on the other hand, parents’ economic
status indicated a (M=3,408; sd=1,045.91) with a descriptive interpretation
of average. This implies that the family income of the pupils is in average
level and still could able to sustain the basic needs; while the reading habit
showed a (M=4.00;sd=1.50) with a descriptive interpretation of
sometimes.

This implies that the pupils sometimes read story in their house. In
terms of class size, it indicated a (M=42.94;sd=11.66) with a descriptive
interpretation of more which means that the number of pupils in every
class is more than the standard size designed for a multigrade class.

Table 1.1 Profile of Predictor Affecting the Academic Performance of

the Pupils

Indicator/ Variable N or n f Percentage

 Nutritional Wasted 100 2 2%
Status Normal 98 98%

Table 1.1 shows the profile of predictors affecting the academic

performance of the respondents. It clearly reveals that only 2% of the
pupils belongs to wasted status in terms of nutritional condition and a
chunk of the pupils with normal nutritional condition which has a
percentage of 98%.

Table 2. Level of Academic Performance of the Pupils

Indicator/ Variable N or n sd Mean Descriptive

Interpretation
Pupils’ Academic 100 2.38 79.32 Developing
Performance
Table 2 shows the level of academic performance of the pupils. It
indicates a (M=79.32; sd= 2.38) with a descriptive interpretation of
developing. It means that the pupils are under developing level when it
comes to academic performance in the school. It still needs further
intervention to reach the maximum level of performance which is the
advanced level.

Table 3. Test of Influence of Predictors to Academic Performance of

the Pupils

ANOVA Regression Coefficients

R2 SUMMARY
F p- Unstanda Standa p-
valu rdized rdized value
 e Beta Beta Decision
Predictors Pupils’ academic
.693 42.437 .000 Performance
Constant 62.582
1. Attendance 0.044 0.140 0.033 failed to reject
2. Economic 0.000 -0.057 0.368 reject
Status
3. Reading 1.167 0.738 0.000 failed to reject
Habits
4. Nutritional 2.105 0.152 0.012 failed to reject
Status
5. class size -0.004 -0.020 0.726 reject

The table 3 shows the test of influence of the predictors to the

academic performance of the pupils. It reveals an F(94) =42.437, p<.05
which indicates is significant indicating a model fit. However, the R2 value
of .693 implies that only 69.3% percent of the academic performance of
the pupils has been explained in this study using the indicated predictors,
holding other percentages not accounted to the 5 predictors mentioned
above.
Moreover, among the 5 predictors, only 3 variables, namely the
attendance (p-value= 0.033,p<.05), reading habit (p-value=0.000., p <.05)
and nutritional status (p-value=0.012,p<.05), significantly influence the
academic performance of the pupils as shown in table that the its p-value
is lesser than to a α level of 0.05. Furthermore, among the significant
predictors, reading habit influence most the academic performance of the
pupils. It simply implies that learning could not only acquired by the lesson
given by the teachers in the four corners of the classroom. This study
proves that if the pupils habitually read books or any educational reading
materials, it has a great chance to improve academic performance in the
school as collaborated with the study of Palani (2012) which states that
reading habit is an essential and important aspect for creating a literate
society in this world. It shapes the personality of individuals and it helps
them to develop proper thinking methods, and creates new ideas.

Prediction Model
y= b0 + b1 x 1 + b2 x 2 + b3 x 3
Where:
y= Pupils’ Academic Performance
b0= Constant (62.582)
b1 = Attendance (0.044)
b2 = Reading Habit (1.167)
b3 = Nutritional Status (2.105)

b1 = .044 ; for every increase of pupils’ attendance in the class, there is an

increase of .044 in their academic performance ceteres paribus
b2 = 1.167; for every book or educational reading material read by the
pupils, there is an increase of 1.167 on their academic performance
ceteres paribus
b3 = 2.105; on the average, pupils with normal nutritional status have an
increase of 2.105 on their academic performance ceteres paribus

Pupils Academic Performance

Y = b0 + b1 x 1 + b2 x 2 + b3 x 3
= 62.582 + .0.044 (205) + (1.167) (7) + 2.105 (2)
= 62.582+ 9.02 +8.165+ 4.21
Y= 83.98
Interpretation
The result shows that if the pupils regularly attend the class,
habitually read book or any educational reading materials for least 7 times
a week, and with normal health condition, academic performance will
probably improve by 83.98% ceteres paribus.

Conclusions
1. The level of class attendance of the pupils is average and that the
pupils sometimes read book or any educational reading material in a
week.
1.1 . The profile of nutritional status was that only 2% of the pupils belong
to wasted or unhealthy condition and 98% of the pupils were normal or
healthy.
2. The pupils’ academic performance was still in developing level.
3. Among the predictors, reading habit most significantly influenced the
academic performance of the pupils

Recommendations
1. Minimize the absenteeism of the pupils by conducting a home
visitation and always boost the interest of the pupils toward schooling
by using a differentiated instruction teaching strategy addressing the
individual learning preferences of the pupils,
2. Inculcate to the mind of the pupils the importance of reading by
giving them home reading report. Let the parents also to follow up the
reading habit of their children at home,
3. The school should conduct a feeding activity for the wasted and
nearly wasted pupils of at least thrice a week to ensure proper
nutrition.
4. Orient also the parents the importance of good health to their
children and also inform them that nutritious foods are very much
available in their surroundings.
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