Education Report Roundup

Extracurricular Activities

By Sarah D. Sparks — March 20, 2019 1 min read
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Fernands fondly recalled watching CNN and analyzing polling data in her math class, and she spoke positively about what she picked up about the messy political process from a government course.

The poll found half of U.S. secondary students participates in school sports, and 40 percent were involved in arts or other clubs in the 2018-19 school year.

But the total cost for these activities averaged $408 for sports, $251 for arts, and $126 for other activities. Ten percent of parents felt the extracurricular activities were not worth the cost—but three times as many parents who made less than $100,000 a year thought so.

Moreover, only 7 percent of parents had ever asked for a fee waiver for activities.

The poll was based on a nationally representative sample of 961 parents of 1,323 middle or high school students.

A version of this article appeared in the March 20, 2019 edition of Education Week as Extracurricular Activities

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