Participation in Student Activities and Achievement: A Covariance Structural Analysis

The place of student activities within the public educational system of this country remains an issue. Some proponents of educational reform argue that nonclassroom activities compete with academic learning for the student’s time and attention. That argument implicitly assumes a causal relationship between youth activities and academic achievement. Using the High School and Beyond sophomore cohort data set, I examined that implied causal relationship between level of student participation in extracurricular/cocurricular activities and academic achievement. The model examined accounts for the effects of gender, family background, academic ability, and other competing time-use habits. The findings suggest that academic achievement is enhanced by student participation and raise questions about the rationale behind rules excluding academically marginal students from participation in extracurricular and cocurricular activities.