Pedagogy

This study examines the relationship between level of sports involvement and academic achievement of ninth grade students in five local high schools using a correlational design.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Sports have been an enduring facet of American life. It is woven into the fabric of the social world of Americans, each community have little leagues, sports and physical education is a basic component of educational curriculums, competitions for various sports abound from the community to the national level and sports celebrities are revered much like actors and actresses. Moreover, each person at some point in their life has aspired to become an athlete, and for some this have propelled them to success and a college degree.

Sports do not only promote values and strengthen character and improve physical fitness and endurance but also improve social standing and popularity. Children who play sports are more sociable, more confident and have higher self-esteem. However, it is a reality that sports come into conflict with the academic performance of students. Often, the time spent on practice and competition is taken from the time supposedly spent for academics. Schools however promote sports involvement as part of its extracurricular offerings. But to what extent is sports involvement detrimental or beneficial to the academic performance of students remains a debated issue.

The link between sports involvement and academic achievement remain to be contradictory and inconclusive. Some researches had found that at best, there is only a weak association between sports involvement and academic achievement, which means that sports, does not improve academic achievement. However, previous research found that sports involvement do not have detrimental effects on academic achievement. On the other hand, sports involvement had been found to contribute to better concentration, decision-making (Brisswalter, Collardeau  Ren, 2002), attachment to school and friends, and goal achievement.

The role of sports in the educational system is important from the viewpoint of school administrators as most sports generate additional funding from the local government and from endorsements. It also increases the support of parents and the local community especially if the sports teams are winning in national competitions. For the student athletes, sports involvement tend to open opportunities for them especially after high school, since colleges award athletic scholarships and ensure a college education. Also, sports enhance their social standing in school make them popular and attractive to others. Sports also build relationships, team work and friendships that seem to endure even after high school. Parents view sports as an avenue for their children to succeed and pursue their interests however, too much parental involvement can translate to the pressure to achieve which adds stress to the already stressed student athlete.

Clearly, sports is a big issue in schools and in the lives of students, and since students have to deal with sports and their academics, the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement is an important issue to discuss and investigate. There had been a number of researches on sports and physical education and its relationship to academic achievement and grades, but the results remain to be inconsistent. Some say sports is linked to increase in achievement test scores and GPA, some say it is not, while others say that greater involvement is needed. Previous research also examined the said relationship with a limited methodology, like using scores on achievement tests, GPAs or subject grades only, while participation was measured in terms of frequency and amount of time spent. The limitation of such methods is that personal characteristics had not been controlled for, like intelligence, academic standing, sports performance and personality type.

The present study will examine the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement in a more refined method. The athletes academic grades at the end of the ninth grade will be gathered and correlated to their level of sports involvement. In order to determine which level of sports involvement will significantly be related to academic achievement as previous studies indicate, sports involvement will be categorized into major sports participation, minor sports participation, and none participation in any sports.  Major sports participation will be defined as athletes who compete and are part of the major sports teams (football, basketball and baseball for boys soccer, volleyball and softball for girls), minor sports participation will be defined as athletes who compete and are part of sports teams not in the major sports category like tennis, swimming, archery, track and field etc. None participation is defined as students who have not been involved in any kind of sport during the 9th grade. Academic achievement will be defined as the accumulative GPA of the identified student participants at the end of the 9th grade.

The present study hopes to further establish the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement and will be able to contribute to the building of knowledge and to help schools develop better sports programs and academic support for student athletes. The rest of the chapter will present the key literature on sports involvement, physical education, physical activity and extracurricular activities on academic achievement. The objective is to present the gap in literature and the background of this study, also, the research problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, and overview of the research methods for the present study.

Background of the Problem

This discussion will focus on previous research on sports involvement and participation in other physical activities and academic performance and other variables to provide a framework of which the present study will be conducted. The previous literature was searched using databases such as PubMed and ProQuest with keywords such as sports, academic achievement and sports involvement, high school and adolescents.

Sports clubs and teams are part of the physical education curriculum of schools and its impact on educational outcomes had been the focus of research in terms of the time spent in physical education classes when it shortens the time spent on academic subjects. The results have found that there are no detrimental effects to academic performance even with the decrease in subject duration. Trudeau and Shephard, (2008) did a review of previous studies on the relationship of physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. The researchers found that among the quasi-experimental studies increasing the time for free school physical activity in elementary school was not detrimental to the learning of other subjects. On the other hand, it was found that increasing the time spent for physical education showed significant increase in GPA. Cross-sectional studies reported that free physical activity was associated with an increase in academic achievement while physical education did not. Similarly, Lipscomb (2007) explored the impact of involvement in school-sponsored clubs and sports to student learning. The researcher found that participation in sports increased math and science test scores by 2 percent, while club participation increased math test scores by 1 percent and involvement in the two activities was associated with an increase in college degree expectations by 5 percent. Moreover, Stephens and Schaben (2002) compared the academic achievement (GPA) of 8th grade student athletes and non-athletes, the findings indicated that the higher the sports participation, the better the GPA, thus, athletes had higher GPA compared to non-athletes. This implies that sports involvement have the possibility of positively influencing academic achievement.
Sports not only influence academic achievement but a number of developmental outcomes too. Fredericks and Eccles (2006) examined the relationship of participation in high school extracurricular activities and developmental outcomes of 11th grade African American and European American youths. The researchers found that participation in school clubs and organized sports was associated with positive academic and psychological adjustment. A correlational study tested the relationship of athletic participation of inner-city high school students in New York to academic and psychological factors (Fisher, Juszczak  Friedman, 1996). The results reported that the surveyed students are involved in sports, have unrealistic expectations about their sports performance and future, have used steroids and other enhancements to increase their sports performance. On the other hand, sports involvement was not associated with an increase in academic GPA, improvement in self-esteem and occurrence of depression.

The involvement of students in extracurricular activities and sports has established positive outcomes for students socialization and character. Linver, Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2009) examined the involvement of adolescents in various organized activities and youth development outcomes. Organized activities included sports, sports and other activities, school-based activities and religious groups, while none-participation was also included. Development outcomes included academic ability, confidence, connections, character and caring. The findings of the study showed that participation in sports only was related to positive outcomes, while participation in sports and other activities had more positive outcomes and less involvement was associated with negative outcomes. In the same light, a longitudinal study tracked the academic achievement and developmental assets of 7th and 9th grade students for 3 years. The findings showed that the number of developmental assets that a student perceives to have is related to increases in GPA. Developmental assets included positive relationships, opportunities, skills, values and self perceptions. This study although not related to physical activity or sports point out that academic achievement is influenced by a number of factors (Scales, Benson, Roehlkepartain, Sesma Jr.  van Dulmen, 2006).

Although physical activity does not have any detrimental effects on academic achievement, the direction and quality of relationship of physical activity or sports and academic achievement however is not as clearly established. Taras (2005) reviewed the literature on physical activity and academic performance among school-aged children. The previous studies indicated that there is little improvement on academic performance due to physical activity such as concentration, however, long-term improvement on academic achievement is not supported and needs to be examined further. On the other hand, Fox, Barr-Anderson, Neumark-Sztainer and Wall (2010) found that academic performance was enhanced by physical activity whether from team sports or not. Carlson et al. (2008) conducted a longitudinal study that traced the academic achievement and participation in physical education classes on students from kindergarten to the fifth grade. The results showed that girls who had longer physical education classes improved on their mathematics and reading grades, while this was not true for the boys. Moreover, involvement in sports and physical activity was not associated with any negative effect on academic achievement of students.

Physical education classes had been enhanced by a number of programs and concern had been building on whether the said programs compete with the focus on academics, however, physical education is important as it helps keep students fit and develop interests in physical activities. The research on physical education and academic achievement showed that to some degree, it is supportive of academic performance. A research study evaluated a school-based physical activity intervention and whether increased time spent on the intervention activity was detrimental to the academic achievement of elementary grade students. The researchers measured academic grades before and after the intervention in eight schools who adopted the Action Schools BC program. The results showed that the intervention program was effective in increasing physical activity in the students without detrimental effects to academic achievement of the students (Ahamed et al., 2007). A study examined the effects of a physical education program to the academic achievement scores of students in the Metropolitan Achievement Test. The Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids Curriculum was implemented for two years in various schools, either by specialists or trained teachers. The findings of the study indicated that health related physical education have positive effects on student achievement scores (Sallis et al.,1999). Moreover, Coe, Pivarnik, Womack, Reeves and Malina, (2006) investigated the possible effects of enrollment to physical education classes and level of physical activity on the academic achievement of middle school students. This study pointed out that vigorous physical activity was related to higher grades than those who had low physical activity while moderate physical activity did not affect the grades. On the other hand, enrollment in physical education classes was not related to academic achievement. Another research reported similar results, Chomitz et al. (2009) tested the relationship of physical fitness to academic achievement of a diverse population of public school children in an urban area. This study used cross-sectional data from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System in math and English and also fitness achievement from physical education classes. The study found that children who passed fitness tests were also more likely to pass the MCAS tests after controlling for BMI, ethnicity, gender, grade and socioeconomic status.

The association between academic achievement and sports involvement had been promising especially in elementary and middle school students even in other countries. Eveland-Sayers, Farley, Fuller, Morgan and Caputo (2009) sought to determine the relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement of elementary school children. The participants were asked to run a mile, curl-up and sit-and-reach performance was collected as a measure of physical fitness. Scores from the TerraNova achievement test was considered indicators of academic achievement. The results indicate a negative correlation between run time and math scores, while the same relationship was seen for girls run time and readinglanguage scores. A study explored the relationships between levels of physical activity and academic achievement of 9th grade students in Sweden. Cross-sectional data was used to establish the relationship of physical activity and fitness to academic grades. The findings pointed out that academic achievement was related to vigorous activity but not to fitness, while the boys academic achievement was associated with fitness only (Kwak et al., 2009). A longitudinal study explored the relationship between school sports participation and academic performance of adolescents. The study focused on gender and race specific differences among the jocks and athletes school grades and misconduct. The findings of the study indicated that female black jock adolescents had lower grades than non-jocks, while female black athletes had higher grades than non-athletes. There was no difference in the grades of male students whether they were jocks or athletes (Miller, Melnick, Barnes, Farrell,  Sabo, 2005).

Aside from sports, extracurricular activities have also been linked to positive educational outcomes such as academic achievement. The authors examined the effects of extracurricular participation to twelfth grade students educational outcomes. The educational measures were grades, coursework, homework, educational aspirations self-esteem, and substance abuse and university applications. The researchers found that there were minimal nonlinear effects of extracurricular participation to student outcomes. While it was also reported that school-based extracurricular activities were more advantageous for students and the most beneficial activities were sports and academic related (Marsh  Kleitman, 2002). In another study the personal characteristics of adolescents involved in different extracurricular activities such as sports, academics, school, performance, multiple activities and non-participation in activities was identified. This study demonstrates that those who participated in activities had better grades, while those who did not participate in any activity had lower grades, socioeconomic status and came from larger schools (Feldmanand  Matjasko, 2007).

The same associations had been found in the participation of children in organized clubs and groups from childhood to adolescence. The clubs or groups were identified as sports or cultural. The results pointed out that participation in sports and cultural groups diminished as children reached adolescence, while those who continued to participate reported higher attachment to parents, friends and school and had better self-esteem. This study showed that participation in sports or other group activities can have positive effects in the development of children (McGee, Williams, Howden-Chapman, Martin  Kawachi, 2006). Further, a study examined the relationship between extracurricular activities, school characteristics and academic outcomes. This study was conducted in high schools in North Carolina, where it was found that bigger schools have more diverse extracurricular offerings and had higher participation rates. It was also found that opportunities to participate were related to positive academic outcomes. The findings indicate that investing in extracurricular activities can be beneficial to the students and improve academic outcomes for the school (Stearns  Glennie, 2010). A more robust methodological study by References and further reading may be available for this article.

Shulruf, Tumen, and Tolley (2008) sought to establish causality of participation in extracurricular activities to increase in academic achievement. The study used a methodological approach that can measure whether participation in extracurricular activities can improve academic achievement and literacy. The findings of this study failed to support such assumption.

Academic achievement and sports participation had also been studied in accordance with other variables such as parental support, student characteristics and socialization and goal achievement. Student athletes motivation and goal achievement had been one of the explored variables in the literature. A study tested the validity and reliability of an achievement goal scale for student athletes between 9 to 14 years old. The achievement goal was assessed in terms of sports achievement and academic achievement. The results showed that the scale AGSYS was a valid and reliable measure of goal achievement, however, young athletes did not differentiate between sports and academic achievement. This would show that athletes are often motivated to achieve in any field or interest (Cumming, Smith, Smoll, Standage  Grossbard, 2008). Moreover, self-esteem is also influence by physical effectiveness. The findings indicated that physical attractiveness and effectiveness were related to male and female self-esteem across grade levels (Thornton  Ryckman, 1991). This would support the idea that adolescents value their physical appearance and strength. Luthar, Shoum and Brown (2006) found that high extracurricular involvement did not have any achievement pressure, while parent criticism and lack of parental supervision during after-school hours was associated with negative behaviors and the pressure to achieve. This was true for affluent students.

Parental involvement in their childrens extracurricular activities can influence the amount of time spent in extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities included sports, clubs, performing arts and others. The results indicated that parental support was positively related to increased participation while parental pressure was negatively related to participation (Anderson, Funk, Elliott  Hull Smith, 2003). This study showed that involvement in extracurricular activities can come from parental pressure and not the adolescents own interests. Papaioannou,  Ampatzoglou, Kalogiannis  Sagovits  (2008) explored the influence of socializing agents in the achievement goal, satisfaction and academic achievement of young athletes in Greece. The results implied that socializing agents had positive influences on the achievement goals of young athletes, and that there was a weak association with sports achievement goal and academic achievement, while a significant relationship was found for sports satisfaction. This study reports that the relationship between sports achievement and academic achievement is nil.

Statement of the Problem

The relationship of sports involvement and academic achievement had been the focus of many researches especially, on whether sports involvement enhances or distracts students from their academic subjects. The existing literature on sports involvement and physical activities and academic achievement had proven to be inconclusive. It seemed that the association between sports involvement and academic achievement is mediated by the type of sports, the amount of time spent on sports and the measure of academic achievement used (Trudeau  Shephard, 2008). Vigorous activity like that of sports had been found to be associated with gains in scores on standardized tests while physical education classes had not been found to be detrimental to academic performance (Marsh  Kleitman, 2002 Coe, Pivarnik, Womack, Reeves  Malina, 2006).

In this light, it is important to determine whether the level of sports involvement would influence academic performance and what level of involvement is the most beneficial to students. Considering that high schools in the country struggle with maintaining and improving academic performance, it is necessary to identify which activities support or deter academic achievement (Fox, Barr-Anderson, Neumark-Sztainer  Wall, 2010). Thus, the present study seeks to determine the relationship of sports involvement to academic achievement of grade nine students in five local high schools. This study aims to establish the direction and degree of relationship that is present between the level of sports involvement and academic achievement of students in the ninth grade.

This quantitative study will use the correlational method to establish the relationship between level of sports involvement and academic achievement. The study will be using a captive sample of ninth graders in five local high schools. They will be asked to complete a survey questionnaire that would measure their level of participation in sports and the type of sports they engage in. The accumulated GPA for each student will be gathered from schools records. The students will be grouped according to the type of sports they participated in, major sports, minor sports and no sports.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this correlational study is to describe and determine the relationship between level of sports involvement and academic achievement of ninth grade students in five local high schools. This study would be able to provide evidence to support or disprove the claims that sports involvement is beneficial to academic achievement. The ninth grade students will be asked to complete a survey questionnaire wherein they will be asked to indicate the kind of sports they are part of, their current level of involvement and the level of physical exertion they expend for practice and competition and the amount of time they spend for sports. Academic achievement will be measured in terms of the participants year-end GPA in the ninth grade and will be collected from school records. The correlational method is appropriate for this study as it is concerned with establishing relationships and associations between a number of variables and can be useful in determining the strength and the direction of those relationships. By using the correlational method, this study would be able to test its research hypotheses and would lead to empirical evidence that would contribute to the literature on sports involvement and academic achievement in high school students.

Importance of the Study

Sports participation in high schools had been a major facet in American education for the longest time. It has been considered as one area of student development aside from academics. But arguments against too much sports involvement had been around for some time as it is said to compete with academics and learning. On the other hand, some advocate seeing sports and academics as complementary, wherein sports enrich the educational experience of the students. Previous research had found weak support for the said assumptions, but what they proved was that sports were not detrimental to student learning.

The importance of this study to the educational programs of high schools in the country is evident as most high schools adopt the same curriculums and sports program and finding evidence of how sports involvement impacts academic achievement would help in designing a more responsive sports and academic program for high school students. The present study is also expected to provide empirical evidence that will show the kind of relationship between sports involvement and academic achievement as well as identify which level of involvement is most beneficial and most detrimental to academic achievement.

The importance of this study to the literature on sports and academic achievement is evident in terms of establishing how academic achievement is impacted by the level of sports involvement in the high school level. Academic achievement in high school is important as it is predictive of college performance. Moreover, sports participation is said to impact student life beyond that of high school, this study would provide knowledge on how sports involvement contributes to the educational experiences of high school students.

Research Hypothesis and Questions

This study will describe and determine the relationship between sports involvement and academic achievement among three groups of ninth grade students in five local high schools. The research questions and hypotheses are as follows
What is the profile of ninth grade students
What are the types of sports that ninth grade students participate in
What is the current level of sports participation of ninth grade students
How much time does ninth grade students spend in sports activities
What is the academic achievement level of ninth grade students
A significant relationship exists between sports participation and academic achievement.
A significant relationship exists between level of sports participation and academic achievement.

Definitions

The following operational definitions are presented to elucidate the variables of the present study.

Sports refer to an organized physical activity that is competitive and requires physical skills. Sports can be individual or team sport and maybe done in door or outdoor. In the present study, sports will be measured as major or minor sports.

Major sports refer to those team sports that are most popular in high schools and for which regular competitions or meets have been held. Major sports in this study are basketball, football and baseball for boys and volleyball, soccer and softball for girls.

Minor sports refer to individual and team sports that are not considered as major sports, where competitions are often seasonal. In this study, minor sports will be all the other sports that ninth grade students participate in that are not identified as a major sport.

None participation in sports refers to the absence of any form of involvement in any kind of sports. In this study, none participation is considered as one of the three levels of sports participation.

Level of sports participation refers to the degree to which a student is participating in his or her sports. In the present study, level of participation will be measured in terms of the students current participation level and amount of time spent for sports.

Academic achievement refers to the academic performance of students in the ninth grade. In this study, academic achievement will be measured in terms of the students GPA.

Personal Reflection

Creating something out of nothing is perhaps the most gratifying exercise that the human mind can accomplish. I had gone into this exercise with only an idea of what I want to study and how I wanted it to be studied. As I launched into the process of researching about the previous studies on my chosen topic, I realized that this task is daunting and at the same time exciting.

I had always wanted to study sports involvement and academic achievement because I believe that a crucial balance between sports and academics will be the best for our students. I have often heard about how sports take students away from academics and how in the end it is the academic standing that predicts success in college and beyond. However, if we focus only on academics, students would not be able to learn commitment, perseverance, discipline, cooperation, and teamwork. And if we focus only on sports, students would not be able to make it through school.

With a clear topic in mind, I went through every research article I could find that seemed similar to what I wanted to study, some where interesting to read while some where too technical and I had difficulty following the authors discussion and arguments. On the other hand, I learned a number of things from my literature search that there is a wealth of information available to us and that some or gold and a number are not. Using databases, it was easy to do a simple keyword search and every article that contained the key word is given in a list. What was daunting was sifting through those lists. In one search I got 2000 hits, and I found it impossible to read all of those. I concentrated on reading the abstracts and if the abstract described variables that I wanted, I saved the copy to add to my growing list of possible articles. I also learned that relying on the title alone is not a guarantee, because until you read the abstract, you would not get an idea of what the study was about. Moreover, I learned that the literature search is an important step in the writing process as it made me confront my own knowledge and lack of knowledge on my chosen subject of study. I wanted to study sports, and then I found that sports had been studied in terms of physical education classes and as extracurricular activities, which not only speaks of the complexity of my topic but also of the dearth of information that have existed in this field of interest. Further, I also learned that academic achievement can be measured in terms of GPA, standard scores, achievement test scores, SAT scores and a lot more. This taught me that I must be able to clearly define and delineate my variables and in how I wanted to measure those.

The task was exciting though especially when I come across articles that clearly studied my own chosen variables and I get inspired by their methods and findings and I always read their conclusions to find out the implications of their studies and in what context I could conduct my own study. When I started writing this paper, I spent almost half a day staring at the computer screen and thinking of how to best start the introduction. I guess, the beginning was the most difficult part, because when I started writing, everything seemed to fall into place. As my introduction chapter progressed, the direction and the variables I wanted to study also took shape. Everything became clearer to me and I was excited to finish it. I then struck another hurdle when I had to write the problem statement, I was at a lost and it took me time to read samples of problem statements and browsing over previous dissertations to get a feel of what should be written there. This had indeed been a difficult but rewarding first chapter for me.

The second chapter is the literature review and I am already apprehensive as to the amount of work it entailed. I already have gathered some materials for the literature review, I only need to continue with my database searches, reading and synthesizing those researches.