The extracurricular gap

Income-based differences in extracurricular participation are growing, and these differences greatly affect later outcomes, writes Alia Wong in The Atlantic Monthly. The disparity exacerbates the achievement gap that is keeping poor children behind in school and life. While upper- and middle-class students have become more active in school clubs and sports teams over the past four decades, working-class peers "have become increasingly disengaged and disconnected," particularly since their participation started plummeting in the '90s, according to a recent study in Voices in Urban Education. A gap in access to extracurriculars has always existed, but participation numbers for both groups increased at the same rate until they diverged precipitously in the 1980s for non-athletic activities and in the early 1990s for sports. By 1992, when 75 percent of upper- and middle-class seniors reported extracurricular participation, involvement among disadvantaged students dropped to 61 percent. By 2004, low-income seniors were at 56 percent. With the many current challenges for schools, extracurriculars may seem tangential, but data suggest that extracurricular participation is as meaningful as test scores for subsequent educational attainment and earnings later in life. Researchers fault the growing disparities largely to rising income inequality. Affluent families have more to spend on their children, and as budget cuts force districts to reduce spending, parents must foot the bill. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.