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August 28th, 2004

Theories on Participation and Student Achievement The remainder of this literature review will focus on the sociological and psychological effects of participation on academic achievement and positive development. Exploration of the dynamic relationship between activity involvement and student development and achievement has revealed a complexity of concepts and variables which often reflect a high degree of interconnectedness. Beckett (2002), who has researched the link between extracurricular programs and academic achievement, asserts that there are several sociological explanations for how involvement in extracurricular activities influences improved student development and achievement. The first of these sociological explanations is the developmental model, which asserts, participating in sports socializes adolescents in ways that promote educational success ...by teaching characteristics such as a strong work ethic, respect for authority, and perseverance, sports participation develops skills that are consistent with educational values and thus helps students achieve (p. 71). These traits are an example of a hidden curriculum that supports and enhances student achievement, creating a carryover from the practice field to the classroom in life skills that are conditioned into the students, enhancing their educational performance. Specifically, Beckett goes on to conclude that, playing sports develops character in athletes that increases their desire and ability to achieve academically (p. 71). Becketts second explanation for the effect of activity involvement on higher achievement involves the impact on their actions or frame of mind by those

15 Written By DuWayne Hass, Activities Director at Ogilvie High School, Minnesota

August 28th, 2004

persons around an individual. In the leading-crowd hypothesis, sports participation offers student-athletes higher peer status that facilitates membership in the leading-crowd which comprised of the most popular high school students, the leading crowd disproportionately consists of collegeoriented, high achievers (p. 71). By this Beckett asserted that the largest proportion of academically and future oriented students are drawn to and involved in activities, influencing students who may be less driven to high achievement. According to Beckett, it is argued that by increasing social status, sports participation provides the student-athlete with membership in an academically oriented peer group that, in turn, facilitates higher academic performance (p. 71). In extension, Becket noted that participation also benefits a students education by connecting them to parents, coaches, advisors, and teachers who are future oriented and promote high academic performance. As a parallel to the leading crowd hypothesis, Mahoney (2000), professor of psychology at Yale University, examined data from the Carolina Longitudinal Study completed in 1995, which included 695 males and females from seven public schools in the southeastern U.S. According to his findings, the positive effects of involvement are more correlation than causative, because persons who become involved in school extracurricular activities are somehow more competent at the outset than their uninvolved counterparts (p. 512). Therefore, the inherent competence of a person causes them to become involved in an activity and explains their natural ability to achieve at a higher level. Yet, this does not account for the effect of the leading crowd on students

16 Written By DuWayne Hass, Activities Director at Ogilvie High School, Minnesota

August 28th, 2004

who may not have participated in an activity had the activities themselves not been available to both groups. Nor does it account for the potential recruiting influence that the leading crowd may have on students who may be less inclined on their own to reach for high achievement or to be involved on their own volition. A comparison of the effect of the leading crowd versus the theory is necessary to determine the full effect of each. Beckett leans most heavily on the social capital model, to explain the academic benefits of extracurricular involvement as it operates through social networks. This theory on social capital explains the strong relationship between activity involvement and higher academic performance as an opportunity to accumulate sources of information and contacts through the formation of and membership in social networks. For this model, Beckett exemplified the family structure, which is a primary site of social capital followed by human capital which is further developed through activity involvement and plays vital roles in a childs educational success (p 72). The human capital refers to parents, teachers, coaches, and advisors while the social capital is the social interaction and networking created by being involved in extracurricular activities. Beckett (2002) then argued that children who have well educated parents and are active in their childrens lives, have greater success in school. In effect, what participation in sports and other extracurricular activities does is to develop social capital through providing opportunities for greater social stimulation and interaction within the family among its members, thereby, strengthening the family unit. Beckett also noted another advantage as the creation of social

17 Written By DuWayne Hass, Activities Director at Ogilvie High School, Minnesota

August 28th, 2004

networks that are extra-familial, acting as an extra and significant resource of social capital for the development of the student (p. 72). Similarly, Fredricks (2002), noted students identifying activity involvement as giving them an added opportunity to spend time with their family around a shared activity (p. 85). Extracurricular activities are therefore described as being sources of social capital between the student, parent(s) and the school, which amplify the creation of intricate social ties between these three groups, resulting in the formation of social capital outside the family (p. 72). Beckett goes on to explain the educational benefits of the social capital that exist outside the family as distributing information and resources and serve as an extra source of social control for the development and guidance of the student. This framework of social relationships reinforces and develops compliance, trust, school norms, and values. Therefore, activity involvement is a support mechanism to assist parents in the raising of their children. This closely resembles the ancient African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. Activities can make life easier for children and parents by creating a network of friends, family, and neighborhood. Beckett asserted that the opportunity to attend public performances and competitions offered by extracurricular activities serve as social capital by providing a meeting ground for parents who reinforce in each other standards of behavior, school norms, and educational resources. The events themselves act as conduits of important educational information and resources that would otherwise be unavailable to students (p. 73). Similarly, participation must also provide educational information for parents.

18 Written By DuWayne Hass, Activities Director at Ogilvie High School, Minnesota

August 28th, 2004

In relation to the social capital model, Guest and Schneiders (2003) evaluation of a five-year longitudinal study from the Alfred P. Sloan Study of Youth and Social Development evaluated the effect of community characteristics, self-identity, and type of activity on student academic achievement and development. Guest and Schneider asserted that intensive research has shown student involvement in extracurricular activities to be strongly associated with increased student achievement in schools regardless of the socioeconomic characteristics of the community or school. However, they did note that the meaning of, for example, being a member of the basketball team, varies from community to community due to different cultural characteristics and expectations, while the structural roles of each activity (ie. in basketball, putting the ball in the basket) do not vary. Guest and Schneider found that sports are most strongly associated with achievement in schools with low educational expectations and schools, which are in poor communities (p. 89) due to seeing athletic involvement as a means to upward mobility. Conversely, in upper class communities it was found that athletic involvement was more likely to be seen as hindering future educational gains. Contrasting sports participants to non-sports participants revealed that non-sport activities reflected more constant high achievement and educational expectations across all variations of communities, as well as achieving higher grades and aspiring to higher levels of education. Guest and Schneider noted that the relationship of athletic involvement to academic achievement was most predictable when a students self-identity is linked with their involvement with a particular sport or activity. Research stated:

19 Written By DuWayne Hass, Activities Director at Ogilvie High School, Minnesota

August 28th, 2004

to sustain school success, one must be identified with school achievement in the sense of its being a part of ones self-definition, a personal identity to which one is accountable to their self-evaluation, being accountable for good self-feelings translates into sustained motivation for achievement (p 92). Therefore, student involvement and success in a particular activity is a part of their self-identity, and results in positive academic achievement (Fredricks, 2002; Guest & Schneider, 2003). Within this same train of thought, Guest and Schneider assert research that identified jocks as being not just athletes, but achievers who are likely to excel (p. 92). Through extracurricular participation, athletes take on the role expectation exerted on them by a community and make it their role identity. Participation implants values characteristic of their community, creating a role identity and establishing an expectation to live up to these community values and simultaneously fostering a value of self (Guest & Schneider, 2003).

20 Written By DuWayne Hass, Activities Director at Ogilvie High School, Minnesota

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