A 2010 study of a western Nebraska school district found a correlation between a student's extracurricular activities and her attendance record. The study concluded that students who participated in extracurricular activities had a higher rate of school attendance than students who did not participate. It used data from 2007-08 and 2008-09 pertaining to 275 of the district's high school graduates.
School districts typically define extracurricular activities as privileges; students earn the right to participate by complying with school rules and regulations. These typically include rules on school and class attendance. Annandale High School in Virginia, for example, has an extracurricular activities participation policy that requires students to attend all scheduled classes on the day of a competition or activity to be eligible to participate in extracurricular activities on that day.
Because home-schooled students do not attend classes in the physical buildings of their district, but are still considered part of the district and can participate in extracurricular activities, educators typically find it necessary to carve out special rules addressing participation of home-schooled students in extracurricular activities.
For example, the Nebo school district in Utah has an extracurricular activities participation policy that exempts home-schooled students from attendance requirements. They may still have to qualify to be eligible to participate based on satisfactory scholastic progress or other criteria.
A University of Massachusetts educator studied middle and high school students and how certain school-related factors -- including extracurricular activities and school attendance -- affected their eventual completion of a college degree. The study concluded that a student's good attendance -- not skipping classes or school -- had a positive correlation to college degree completion. Additionally, the study concluded that the more a student participated in school-sponsored extracurricular activities, the more likely he was to complete a bachelor's degree.
The study also tested these results across racial lines and found that attendance was equally important to future completion of the bachelor's degree regardless of the student's race or ethnicity. However, a stronger correlation was found between the extent of extracurricular activities and future completion of the bachelor's degree for Hispanics and African-Americans than for Asian-Americans and Caucasians.