Lagoke B.A., Komolafe M.D., Ige N.A., Oladejo M.A.
Lagoke, B.A., Federal College of Education (sp), Nigeria; Komolafe, M.D., Federal College of Education (sp), Nigeria; Ige, N.A., Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Nigeria; Oladejo, M.A., Federal College of Education (sp), Nigeria
The need for Inclusive distance education in order to ensure that both abled and non-abled persons are included in the educational provision has become imperative to guarantee access to equal educational opportunities. In recent time, the academic performance of nonabled students has been a source of concern to stakeholders in the field of distance education This study therefore, provided a causal explanation of academic performance through the analysis of students' disability status at the National Open University of Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive research design of the 'ex-post facto' type. Stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select 1500 participants while purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the National Open University of Nigeria. Data were collected through questionnaire during the 2009 contact session. Two research questions and one hypothesis were answered and tested in the study. Pearson correlation, regression analysis and t-test were employed for data analysis. Students' disability status has significant contribution to academic performance. There was also a significant difference in students' academic performance based on disability status (t=2.39, df= 1488, P<0.05). Institutional providers should provide for adequate special support services and personnel for the exceptional students who may be disadvantaged in the programme.