The effect of athletic participation on the grade point average of high school varsity athletics

Includes bibliographical references.Much criticism has developed pertaining to the offset of varsity interscholastic athletic competition on high school grades. This was discussed further in the review of related literature. The problem of this study was to discover any effect of athletic participation on the grade point average of high school varsity athletes. The following sub-problems were investigated: (1) a comparison of the scholastic standing of the Junior athletes to the senior athletes, and (2) a comparison of the scholastic grades of the athletes who planned to attend college and to the athletes who did not. This sample consisted of one hundred and one athletes, fifty-nine Junior athletes and forty-two senior athletes from Reavis High School, Oak Lawn, Illinois. The mean grade of their participation and non-participation period determined their scholastic standing. The t test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the means. The conclusion of this study showed no significant difference existing between athletic participation and the grade point average of high school athletes. It was also found that there was no significant difference between the scholastic standing of the Junior athletes to the senior athletes. It was found, however, that there was a significant difference between high school athletes who were planning to attend college and those who were not, these results may provide a basis for further investigation.M.S. Ed. (Master of Education