Paulette Maria Goretti A Ankrah
Education has remained indomitable in the development of human dignity and sustainability of society, an observation made by the researcher which relates to Ghana, Africa, whose educational system had to contend with low academic performance in rural public schools. Thus, the main purpose of the study was to determine the best fit model of student outcome in disadvantaged public schools in Ghana. Specifically, it established the interrelationship among the four domains namely: learning experience, quality instruction, curriculum appropriation, attitudes and student outcome. Through purposive sampling, data were gathered from 205 stakeholders of selected public schools in five districts of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. These stakeholders responded to the self-made survey questionnaires and indepth interviews. An explanatory-sequential-mixed method design was utilized by mainly using quantitative method supported by qualitative data. Pearson r-moment correlation and multiple regression analysis were employed with structural equation modeling to identify the best fit model of student outcomes. Findings revealed that learning experience, quality instruction, curriculum appropriation, attitudes and students outcome were all moderate and oftentimes evident. Besides, there was a significant relationship between the exogenous variables and learning outcomes. Moreover, the results of regression analysis showed that only quality instruction and attitude significantly predicted student outcomes. Furthermore, the re-specified model passed most of the criteria of fit indices and considered as the best fit model of student’s outcomes.