Prevalent Factors Affecting the Poor Grades of Students of Central Philippines State

University- Hinigaran Campus

INTRODUCTION

Education is one of the main foundations for the students progress. A poor grade is a
substandard performance in an activity, usually academic, in which an individual is graded on.
There is a variety of reasons and circumstances a student receive a poor grade. Poor grades may
be the result of a variety of factors including, the students suffers from a mental deficiency, lack
of understanding, poor teaching educator, and lack of motivation or is dealing with personal
issues which, in turn, affects their performance in school. Poor grades prove to be a continuous
and prevalent issue among students. Bothered students rarely receive poor grades due to their
lack of cognitive prowess. Generally speaking, students are fully capable of earning sufficient
grades in academics, but consciously choose not to put forth the necessary effort needed to do so.
Failure at school and grade retention is a serious concern among children, and their parents.
According to some researchers, grades measure how smart you are. The problem with this
assumption is that in most educational contexts grades only measure two types of intelligence:
linguistic

and

logical-mathematical.

According

Howard

Gardners theory

of multiple

intelligences there are at least five other types of intelligence: musical, bodily (kinesthetic),
spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
When hear the term poor grade, oftentimes, they would think that it is because a student is not
studying well, or is not that good academically. In other cases, poor grades of student may also
give negative image to the school itself. According to the Central Philippines State University
school manual, the grades 1.0 to 3.0 are passing; the grade of 4.0 is conditional while 5.0 is
considered as a failing grade 2.6 to 3.0 are considered as a poor grades.
Many empirical studies are carried out to explore factors affecting college students performance.
The focus of this research is that student performance in intermediate examination is associated

students profile consisted of students attitude towards attendance in classes, time allocation for
studies, parents level of income, parents age and parents education. The research is based on a
student profile developed on a basis of information and data collected through survey from
students of Central Philippines State University-Hinigaran. Measuring of academic performance
of students is challenging since student performance is product of socio economic, psychological
and environmental factors.
This research will focus on the students in Central Philippines State University-Hinigaran who
have obtained poor grades, or the students who have received an average lower than 2.6 to 3.0.
The aim of the researchers is to determine the factors affecting the poor grades of students at
Central Philippines State University-Hinigaran. Furthermore, this study is made because the
researchers want to know the deeper factors affecting their poor grades. After this study, they will
be able to identify the factors and come up with possible solutions. This study will also be
beneficial to the school itself.

Schematic diagram
Independent Variable

I.

Dependent Variable

Socio-demographic
Profile of students
in CPSU Hinigaran
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Age
Gender
Year level
Civil status
Family income
Educational
attainment of
parents

II.

Factors Affecting
Poor Grades
a. Student factor
b. External factor
c. Teacher factor

Fig.1 Schematic Diagram

The diagram shows the socio-demographic profile of the respondent and the factors affecting
poor grades which will serve as the independent variable and academic performance will be as
dependent variable.

Statement of the Problem

This research aims to identify the prevalent factors affecting the poor grades of students in the
Central Philippines State University- Hinigaran Campus. Specifically, it will seek to answers the
following questions:
1. What is the socio-demographic profile of the respondents when classified according to:
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Year level
d. Civil status
e. Family income
f. Educational attainment of parents
2. What are factors affecting their poor grades on those subjects?
3. What plan of action may be proposed to avoid poor grades?

Hypothesis
There is no relationship in socio-demographic profile of the respondents when categorized into
age, gender, year level, civil status, family income, educational attainment of parents in relation
to their academic performance.

Significance of the Study

The result of this study is beneficial to the following target population:
The School Administration: It will help them in finding solutions on how to solve the problems
of the poor grades in the university.

The Teachers: It will help the teachers understand their students and know the factors affecting
their poor grades. They will be able to plan actions on how to help their students improve their
grades. It will also help them to become more effective teacher by means of using different
strategies which are essential to the betterment of students.
The Parents: They will be able to understand their children; they will help them with their
problems, and support them in their studies.
The Students: They will able to know their weaknesses and the factors affecting their poor
grades, and be able to improve their performances by eliminating these factors.
The Future Researcher: This study will give them a background on the factors affecting the
poor grades of students for their future study.

Scope and Delimitation

This study will focus on the poor grades of students of Central Philippines State UniversityHinigaran Campus. The respondents of the study will be the students of the Central Philippines
State University-Hinigaran Campus from second year to fourth year during the A.Y. 2016-2017.

Definition of Terms
Factors
Conceptual: a circumstance, fact, or influence that contributes to a result or outcome. Something
that helps produce or influence a result.
Operational: In this study factor refers to the reason of the poor grades of the respondents.
Poor
Conceptual: low quality; being near that extreme of a specified range which is lowest, least
intense, least serious, or least competent.
Operational: in this study poor refers to the low-grade of the respondents
Grades
Conceptual: A teachers evaluation of a students performance in class using numerical symbols.
It is the application of standardized measurements of varying levels of achievement in a course.
Operational: In this study, grades refer to the rating of the students performance.
Prevalent
Conceptual: happening often or over a large area at a particular time.
Operational: in this study prevalent refers to the rampant reasons of the poor grades of the
students.

Theoretical Framework
Lev Vygotsky made some of the most significant contributions to theories of child development,
especially in the area of cognitive development. Vygotskys theory of cognitive development
centered on the ideas that social interaction and imaginative plays are large contributors to the

process of cognitive development in children. He believed that the social interactions that
children engaged in helped them to both discover and create meaning from the things that they
discover. Specifically, he believed that some of the most important learning a child could
experience was in the social interactions they had with a skilled tutor that is often an adult, such
as a parent or teacher. The child will observe the behaviors of the tutor as well as follow the
verbal instructions the tutor provides. The child will then emulate what they observe in their
tutor. The child tries to understand what they observe and the instructions they receive by
copying and internalizing, while learning to apply them to their own lives. Vygotsky called this
collaborative or cooperative dialogue. He called the teacher or tutor in this role the more
knowledgeable other. While this role typically involves adults, as pointed out above, such as
teachers, parents, or coaches, it can also involve social interactions with other children. The
important part of the role is that it is fulfilled by someone from which the child can learn, a more
knowledgeable other.
Vygotsky also proposed something called the zone of proximal development and the idea of
scaffolding in a childs development. The way this works is by recognizing that there are some
things a child cannot do independently, but they would be able to do with the assistance of
someone else. For example, a child may be developing the ability to make different sounds, but
cannot yet talk. With assistance, or scaffolding, from an adult who begins showing them pictures
and repeating the names of the pictures, the child will soon begin to develop words and start
communicating independently without help. The scaffolding helped them to develop the skills
necessary to communicate on their own. Vygotsky was particularly interested in the role of
language in cognitive development. Given that language is vital to human interactions, he
believed that language was the most important tool that human could utilize. Language,
especially in the realm of collaborative dialogue, is the way the more knowledgeable other
communications important information to a child.
The most important application an educator can put into place from Vygotskys theory is his
concepts of the zone of proximal development and scaffolding. This allows teachers to realize
what a child can do if they only had assistance. They can then provide the necessary scaffolding
to help a child develop the skill on their own. For younger children in particular, educators need

to focus on providing an environment that encourages the children to engage in imaginative play
because the role-playing they engage in will help them to develop language and thinking skills.

Conceptual Framework
This research will use the Input - Process - Output (IPO) as a strategy in acquiring the data on
prevalent factors affecting the poor grades of the student. The input will be the subjects in class
the students have poor grade. In this study, the researchers are going to gather this information
from the students who have experienced a poor grade. The process will be the prevalent factors
affecting the poor grades of the students on those subjects. The output will be the proposed plan
of action to improve the students grades.