The effects of athletic participation on academic achievement

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether athletic participation at a small high school in northwestern Wisconsin was related to academic achievement as assessed by the students' WKCE test scores and grade point averages. Another purpose was to determine whether the academic achievement of the athletic participants and nonparticipants were affected by gender. The number of sports in which the student participated, the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam test scores, the grade point averages, and the gender of 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students (n=297) in a rural Wisconsin school district were examined. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) analyses were used to determine whether athletic participation was positively related to academic achievement and whether the academic achievement of the students were affected by their sports participation and gender. Although results indicated no significant correlation between the number of sports participated in and their WKCE test scores, they did indicate a positive relation between the number of sports participate in and their grade point averages. Results also indicate that those who participated in one or more sports were more likely to have higher GPAs and higher test scores. Further, the female students had higher GPAs at the end of their sophomore year than the male students, regardless of whether or not they participated in sports.