Students with Disabilities and College Completion: Does Participation in Extracurricular Activities Matter?

Background and Purpose: Individuals with disabilities fare worse than non-disabled peers in secondary and postsecondary educational attainment. Individuals with disabilities also participate in extracurricular activities at lower rates than their non-disabled counterparts. Literature indicates a positive association between participation in extracurricular activities and improved academic achievements; however, current literature does not specifically examine this relationship for high school students with disabilities. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS) dataset, this study asks the following questions to examine the possible relationship between participation in school-based extracurricular activities during high school and education attainment for students with disabilities: 1) Is participation in a school-based extracurricular activity associated with attaining a college degree for students with disabilities? 2) Is the type of school-based extracurricular activity associated with completion of a college degree? 3) Is the number of school-based extracurricular activities associated with completion of a college degree?

Methods: This study uses secondary data analysis of the ELS dataset using information from 2002, 2004, and 2012 data collection waves. The sample for this study is restricted to individuals who were sophomores in the 2002 base year collection, graduated from high school, participated in all waves of data collection, and reported ever receiving special education services. These restrictions result in an unweighted sample of 604 participants. Logistic regression is used and includes individual and school level control variables (i.e. student sex, race/ethnicity, high school grade point average, total family income, parents’ highest level of education, school size, and school control) as well as the variables of interest which are participation in a school-based extracurricular activity as well as type and number of activities. The outcome variable is attainment of a college degree as of 2012 (i.e. yes/no).

Results: There is a significant association between participating in an extracurricular activity as well as type of extracurricular activity and college degree completion for students with disabilities. Participation in hobby clubs results in students being two times more likely to complete a college degree. Participating in one to two activities also has a significant association with attaining a college degree. This study finds no evidence that participating in more activities has a negative effect on college degree completion. Family income, parents’ education level, and students’ high school GPA are also associated with college degree completion.

Conclusion and Implications: This study shows that students with disabilities who participate in high school extracurricular activities may have increased likelihood of completing a college degree. These findings have possible policy and practice implications. In particular, it is important to note that academic club activities are not significantly related to attaining a college degree for students with disabilities. Rather, hobby club activities are the only type of activities found to be significantly associated with completion of an associate’s degree or higher. Expanding opportunities for these types of activities in both public and private school settings and evaluating methods to encourage more participation may be a way to increase post-secondary success for students with disabilities.