I decided to choose extra-curricular
activities and student achievement as my action research project because as a
coach I have always wondered if students perform better if they are involved in
an extra-curricular activity. I have
been coaching and teaching for nineteen years and have deduced that achievement
is higher in students that do something productive outside of the school day. It could be playing in the band, participating
in UIL activities, cheerleading, sports, dancing, chess, robotics, and any
other activity that follows the standards of the “No Pass-No Play.” Students tend to work harder on grades and on
tests if they know they will not be allowed to participate in their
extra-curricular activity. I am
currently doing research by getting information from various websites that will
further foster my idea that extra-curricular activities increase student performance.
I decided
to do a study on our high school football and volleyball teams to see their
performance on standardized tests, attendance, grades, discipline, and
benchmark testing. I will need to gather
information from our PEIMS clerk, attendance office, testing coordinators, and
discipline centers to get all the data that will help me prove my theory. I will compare these student-athletes with
the students who are not involved in an extra-curricular activity on all the
data mentioned above. I also decided to
look at a male and female group to show that the data will be the same in
comparing the both sexes. I have been
working on my project for only about fifteen hours because of my coaching,
teaching, family, and masters responsibilities.
I plan on working more during the open week between my classes and will
finish the bulk of my research and internship plan during the summer when I
will be free from teaching and coaching.
I have learned a lot from my first three classes that will help me
develop my action plan, and I look forward to the upcoming classes to continue
my research.
