ABSTRACT:- Many scholars and authors argue that the correlation of strategic planning and performance has not been clearly established and that although strategic planning is not the sole contributor to high firm performance, firms with excellently executed strategic plans perform better than their counterparts. Issues of contingency and dynamic, complex environment have necessitated strategic planning and thus the Government being concerned to provide quality education has made strategic planning a policy through the MoE to all public secondary schools in Kenya. The objectives of this study were to establish strategic planning practices in public secondary schools in Rarieda district and to determine the influence of strategic planning on performance. Using cross-sectional descriptive survey design and structured (closed – ended) questionnaires the researcher collected primary data from 27 public secondary schools in Rarieda district. The data was analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics to determine the strength of linear relationship. The key findings of the study were: most schools (74%) practice formal strategic planning and strategic planning is positively correlated to performance. Besides this, it was also established that management do not carry out thorough environmental analysis and does not involve stakeholders to a large extent as required and more still, the strategic plans developed are not fully implemented. It’s therefore a surmise to say that strategic planning is an important practice and all public secondary schools should engage in formal strategic planning. The main recommendation in this study is for the policy developers through MoE to enhance strategic planning in public secondary schools and the top school management to invest resources, time and energy in implementation of the strategies. Finally, future researchers should endeavor to establish the challenges of strategic implementation and how strategic planning can be implemented to enhance its contribution particularly to academic performance.

Key Words:- Strategic Planning, Firm Performance, Ministry of Education (MoE), Public Secondary Schools, Stakeholders