School Sponsored Extracurricular Activities and Math Achievement among Hispanic Students

Abstract

Differences in math achievement between Hispanic eighth grade students who participated in school sponsored extracurricular activities and Hispanic eighth grade students who did not participate in school sponsored extracurricular activities at an inner-city campus in the State of Texas were examined for the 2008-2009 academic year. The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Math exam served as the measure of student achievement. Hispanic eighth grade students who were involved in extracurricular activities had statistically significantly higher scores as well as higher passing percentages than did Hispanic eighth grade students who were not involved in extracurricular activities on the TAKS Math exam. Implications are presented and recommendations for future research are made.

Stuck in the middle: examining the impact of the learning environment on adolescent motivation

“…STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) initiatives foster creativity, competence, and teamwork because students can develop and apply these skills in a safe and social environment (Molina et al, 2016). Engagement in extracurricular, academic programs can lead to increased achievement scores throughout students' academic careers and promote strategic thinking, perseverance, and interpersonal skills that are transferrable across disciplines (Cleary et al, 2017;Espinoza et al, 2013;Molina et al, 2016). When the stress of grades is removed, students can cultivate authentic relationships with one another via intellectual camaraderie.…”

“…Within high-risk student groups, extracurricular participation has positive effects on closing the achievement gap and high school perseverance (Espinoza et al, 2013;Im et al, 2016;Niehaus et al, 2012;Marchetti et al, 2016). Middle school participation in clubs or sports is related to eleventh grade GPA and predicts students' positive feelings about high school and their likelihood to attend college (Bouchard & Berg, 2017;Williams et al, 2017;Wolf et al, 2015).…”