Relationship of School Performance and Socio- Economic Status (SES) of School Heads

This study focused on the relationship of school performance and socio-economic status (SES) of school heads. The main objective of the study was to examine the relationship between financial status of the Heads on the performance of their schools. Research questions in this context were whether domestic matters and other socio-economic factors related to Heads have any relation to their school’s academic progress. In a survey research setting, a researcher made questionnaire containing 15 questions about Heads’ socio-economic background and 30 statements on a fivepoint Likert’s scale was administered to 60 randomly selected Heads of Secondary schools from District Vehari. Using the descriptive statistical techniques, data analysis showed that those schools having heads better socio-economic conditions could perform better. In the light of the findings, it is suggested that Heads of schools may be granted better financial assistance from the Govt. to enhance the performance of schools. Moreover, other logistic and training support to the Heads can also contribute to better academic performance of schools.


Introduction
Socioeconomic status (SES) is a measure of a person's own and their family's economic and social standing in a society as compared to others. Although, relation of SES in different contexts has been studied in multiple social, psychological and health areas, this relation has found its place in Education sector just recently. Relation of SES with students' achievement has been focus of researcher during the last more than two decades. for example, Quagliata (2008) found a positive correlation between SES and academic achievement. Pettigrew (2009) indicated that Socioeconomic Status has a strong impact on student achievement.

Relationship of School Performance and Socio-Economic Status (SES) …
[ 44 ] www.irjei.com Ahmad and Khan (2012) and Ahmar and Anwar (2013) found a significant relationship between parental socioeconomic status and secondary school students' achievement in Secondary School Examinations. Okioga (2013) indicated that student social economic background influenced student academic performance. PISA (2012) study revealed that more than seventy five percent of academic performance differences among the participating schools could be clarified by analyzing the socio-economic status of the schools and students. Sledge (2016) found a significant relation between SES and access to education. Doston and Folly (2017) recognized the impact of student poverty on student achievement. Bhat and Joshi (2017) indicated a significant difference between the academic performance of high socioeconomic status of pupils as compared to students having lower socioeconomic status. Davoli and Entorf (2018) indicated the persistence of between-group achievement inequalities in the context of advantaged and disadvantaged students in the light of PISA results. Keeping in view the factors affecting students' academic achievement, the relation between SES and academic performance of students is catching attention of researchers in the field of educational testing and measurement. However, almost no research work is seen as for as relationship of School Heads SES with a school's academic performance is concerned.

Methodology
It was quantitative study by nature. The research design of the study was descriptive and correlational survey. The population of the study was comprised all head teachers of District Vehari. Sample of the study was comprised of 60 head teachers and random sampling technique was used in the selection of sample. Questionnaire was used as research tool. A Questionnaire was divided into two parts two-parts i.e Part-1 contained questions related to demographic, social, financial and professional information about the participants , whereas, Part-II contained 30 statements based on five-point Likert's scale items to seek opinion of the participants about relationship of SES of School heads with the school performance. Sixty (60) heads of schools were randomly selected and questionnaire was administered among them.

Results
The research questionnaire was designed to find out the opinion of heads about the relation of multiple socioeconomic factors and school performance, some factors were related to personal and domestic background and conditions of the Heads. By analyzing Heads opinion about relation between personal and domestic factors, it is evident that majority of Heads think that financial status, domestic problems and interference, and physical fitness and distance from school affect school academic performance. However, according to their opinion, domestic interference could be the major personal factor that affects school performance. Apart from abovementioned factors, Heads were asked to rate professional factors linked to Heads and relation of these factors with school performance.

Relationship of School Performance and Socio-Economic Status (SES) …
[ 46 ] www.irjei.com According to Heads, professional factors like misuse of authority or encouragement from higher ups, administrative pressure, work environment at the school and school staff mindset, conveyance problems and lack of budgetary resources are those factors that may also affect school performance. Highest percentage of respondents in this regard was 62.5 who agreed to the notion that work environment of school affects school performance. As far as factors related to community and school environment are concerned, participants of this study were asked about their opinion on relationship of civic sense of community, literacy rate in surroundings, financial status and moral values of concerned people and social links of Heads and school performance. Responses from the participants showed that majority of the Heads were of the opinion that moral values of people attached to school (64.3) and civic sense of the community (62.5) effects school performance.

1-
On average, less than fifty percent of Heads of schools are of the opinion that personal and domestic problems affect school performance.

2-
Nearly fifty percent of the respondents opined that professional factors related to Heads may affect school academic performance.

3-
Most of the School Heads , average 55.36 percent, think that community factors have a relation with school performance.

Discussion
Although many research studies have indicated a strong and significant relation between socioeconomic status of parents and students with students' and school's academic