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Background Research

    Before Katie and I begin our own project, we wanted some background information beforehand in order to get a better idea of what we should expect when we’re done.  Too be honest, we were completely surprised by the results.  Katie and I both conducted researches through the Google website and there were numerous sites that helped us and numerous sites that did not.  We put in various keywords such as “Overall grade point average vs. extracurricular activities,” “Student’s GPA+ extracurricular activities,” “Extracurricular activities + student’s overall GPA,” etc.  When we listed these in the Google website, there were several results that came up as scholarships.  For example, there were two sites that said, “Criminal Justice Scholarships” and “Biology Scholarships.”  We suppose it was due to the fact that being involved in extracurricular activities adds to your chances of receiving a scholarship it looks good on college applications and shows admissions officers you’re well-rounded and responsible.   

Nevertheless, we did find some websites that did help us.  There was one site http://www.academicleadership.org/student_
research/AN_ASSESSMENT_OF_THE_PERCEIVED_BENEFITS_OF.shtml in particular that was dedicated to an experiment conducted at Paramount high school in Southern California.  They performed an assessment of the perceived benefits of extracurricular activities on achievement. There results showed that there is a statistically significant difference between both athletes and non-athletes, and music students and non-music students in terms of cumulative GPA.  On the other hand, we came across another website http://clearinghouse.
missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/11.asp that tested the correlation between extracurricular activities, GPA, and self-esteem.  Within the introduction we both came across an interesting fact.  An educational psychologist from Santa Clara, Calif, stated "Participants in sports earn better grades, behave better in the classroom, have fewer behavioral problems outside the classroom, drop out significantly less, and attend school on a regular basis with fewer absences.” 

The last site we came across had the most useful information.  This site was the official site of the “National Federation of State High School Associations.”  http://nfhs.org/web/2004/01/the_case_for_high
_school_activities.aspx  This site had statistical information that backed up the idea that students who compete in high school activity programs make higher grades and have better attendance.  Based on a study of  22,000 students from the University of Colorado, they determined students who participate in some form of interscholastic activities have “significantly higher” grade-point averages than students who do not.  The website also contained information gathered from high schools in North Carolina, Colorado and New Mexico.  There information all centered around the same point which is students who perform in some sort of extracurricular activity have an overall better grade-point average and attendance rate than those who do not participate.  They also have less discipline referrals and a decreased dropout rate.  As a conclusion, Katie and I found one last important piece of information based on a 1985 survey conducted for the NFHS by Indiana University.  They determined students participating in a number of activities not only achieve better academically but also express greater satisfaction with the total high school experience than students who do not participate.  Based on the information we gathered it will be interesting to see if our results match the results of the numerous other high schools we found.