Prior achievement is the indicator of use of school resources and the predictor of academic achievement in Punjab (Pakistan)

This study investigates whether prior achievement or the prior ability is the important indicator of the use of school resource inputs and the predictor of academic achievement at secondary level in Pakistan. Prior achievement is the cumulative function of all the current and prior resource inputs i.e. family inputs, SES, peers' effect and SRIs. Prior achievement is an indicator of learning or an aptitude to learn and use the SRIs effectively. Population of the study comprised all secondary and higher secondary schools and secondary students in Punjab. Overall, a total of 288 schools, and then 20 students from each school were randomly selected as the sample of the study. The longitudinal data of academic achievement in the form of aggregate marks of the annual examinations of the Classes VI, VII, & VIII as prior achievement and that of the Class X as academic achievement of the same students through “Result Sheet”. The data were summarized at school level and then analyzed collectively. Pearson correlation was used to find out the relationship (association) of prior achievement with the academic achievement. Furthermore, Stepwise Regression analysis with linear function was used to find out the differential impact (causal-relationship) of prior achievement on the academic achievement. The results of the study show that the prior achievement has a significant differential impact of prior achievement on academic achievement. It is derived that prior achievement plays a major role in producing academic achievement and that it is a very important predictor of academic achievement. The policy implication of this study is that is that students with the standard prior achievement must be ensured as the admission criteria at secondary stage. Likewise, this policy must be implied to all the levels of education.