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Participating in a Policy Debate Program and Academic Achievement Among At-risk Adolescents in an Urban Public School District: 1997-2007

NCJ Number
253547
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 35 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2012 Pages: 1225-1235
Author(s)
Susannah Anderson; Briana Mezuk
Date Published
October 2012
Length
11 pages
Annotation

This study examined the relationship between participating in a high school debate program on college-readiness in the Chicago Public School district over a 10-year period.

Abstract

At-risk school students were identified using an index including 8th grade achievement, poverty status, and enrollment in special education. Regression analyses were used to assess the association between debate participation and graduation and ACT performance. Overall, debaters were 3.1 times more likely to graduate from high school (95-percent confidence interval: 2.7-3.5) than non-debaters, and more likely to reach the college-readiness benchmarks on the English, Reading, and Science portions of the ACT. This association was similar for both low-risk and at-risk students. Debate intensity was positively related to higher scores on all sections of the ACT. Findings indicate that debate participation is associated with improved academic performance for at-risk adolescents. (publisher abstract modified)