Athletics and Academics - Brief Article

School Administrator, August, 2000

School districts with large athletic budgets have lower levels of academic achievement, according to a study by Texas A&M University's Texas Educational Excellence Project.

Using aggregate data from Texas school districts, the researchers discovered that students at schools with large athletic budgets scored lower on the SAT and ACT exams. Study coordinator Kenneth J. Meier noted: "All other things being equal, athletic budgets can have a maximum impact of 45 points on the SAT or 1.2 points on the ACT. This is not a trivial impact."

The researchers also discovered that fewer students at schools with large athletic budgets even take the SAT and ACT exams. Large athletic budgets also had a negative impact on the percentage of students passing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills and on the percentage of students scoring above 1000 on the SAT.

These findings contrast with earlier studies on athletics and academics, which concluded that student participation in extracurricular activities, such as athletics, had positive effects on attendance and achievement.