Effects of Core Competence on Academic Performance in Secondary Schools: Case of National and County Schools in Bomet County, Kenya.

: This research project sought to find out the effects of reputation on academic performance in secondary schools as exemplified by National and County schools in Bomet County; Kenya. Majority of students and schools have performed dismally in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations. Schools are endowed with both tangible and intangible resources. Tangible assets refer to fixed and current assets of organization that have a fixed long run capacity for example  plant, equipment, land, other capital goods, stocks and bank deposits. Intangible assets are ‘‘soft’’ resources that are based on knowledge or information such as organizational structure, school reputation and core competences such as teacher skills and commitment. Resources are factors that a school possess, both physical and non-physical that it uses to benefit the students such as meeting their needs.   However, despite the existence of these tangible resources schools have continued to perform differently in National Examinations.  In this research project one intangible asset namely: reputation, was examined in relation to academic performance in National and County schools in Bomet County. Two National schools, namely:  Tenwek Boys and Kaplong Girls and two County schools, Merigi and Ngariets were purposively selected for this study.  The target population for this study consisted of all the 125 teachers in the two National and the two County schools in Bomet County. This research project adopted purposive sampling technique. A sample of 56 teachers from the four schools formed the sample size.  Data was collected using questionnaires as per the objectives of the study. The questionnaires had closed ended and open ended structured questions. The questionnaires were pilot tested to a sample eight teachers representing a head teacher, a deputy head teacher, three Heads of Department (H.O.Ds) and three teachers. The actual sample was not used for piloting. This piloting was used to determine the validity and reliability of the research instruments. The data collected was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically based on research objectives .The researcher used SPSS 17.0 to determine the reliability of the research instruments. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was run using SPSS 17.0 and yielded the following results, 0.956 for reputation.  Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of 0.90 and above is considered excellent. Spreadsheet was used to insert charts for the results obtained from the respondents. The study found that over 60 percent of the respondents rated school reputation to have had a positive effect on academic performance. Data was presented in frequency, percentages, and charts and cross tabulations. The study added new knowledge to the existing body of knowledge on the importance of reputation in education service industry. In addition, the research findings could help educators to understand the significance of school reputation on academic performance and how resources are prioritized to improve student performance in National Examinations. Reputation was found to have had positive effects on academic performance of secondary schools.