It is Homecoming Week at Central and a walk through the halls would leave most visitors with the opinion that everything is as it should be. Students and staff are dressed in wacky outfits, changing depending on the theme of the day. Posters and activities are typical of previous Homecoming Weeks. I even woke up to my house being TPed! Yet there is a major difference this school year, and that difference is no football game. Due to injuries and low participation, Central had to forfeit their scheduled football game with Don Bosco Friday night. While I am unsure how much forfeiting our game is affecting the students, I know it is wearing on our community members, coaches, Mr. Yanda, and myself.
With the news of the forfeit spreading around the area, I was contacted by another superintendent who asked, "aren't you guys a football school?" One would think the recent success of our football program (8 straight home playoff games, and 3 straight district titles) would lead to more future success. Instead, even having a football team to finish the season is now in question.
So we find ourselves asking why? How can we have such a drastic change? With declining enrollment most will likely jump to the side that "we just don't have the students". But not so fast! During our successful run in football, participation in fall sports (both cross country and football) were at the following rates:
Class of 2017- 71%
Class of 2016- 74%
Class of 2015- 56%
An average of 67% participation rate in fall sports.
Class of 2018- 62%
Class of 2019- 31% (Almost 70% of our junior boys are not out for a fall sport)
Class of 2020- 50%
Class of 2021- 53%
An average of 49% participation rate in fall sports.
A school district our size can't afford to have 20% less students participating and expect to maintain the level of success we have previously experienced. Our enrollment is not decreasing 20% a year so we can cross that off of our list of reasons "why".
I find myself asking is this just a Central problem? In regards to football, the answer is no. There have been numerous forfeits already this football season across the State and this will be a major topic of conversation at the next Iowa High School Athletic Association meeting. Yet, if football and the concussion scare is the problem, why are students not out for Cross Country?
Last week Trevor Ragan spoke to Central community members, staff, and students about growth mindset and stepping outside of our comfort bubbles. Are we as coaches and teachers fostering a growth mindset and encouraging students to participate? Are parents encouraging their kids to be involved? Do parents understand that "participation in athletics has a positive association with academic achievement. Studies have shown that high school athletes have higher grades than non-athletes, lower absentee levels, a significantly smaller percentage of discipline referrals, lower percentages of dropouts, and higher graduation rates." (Childtrends.org)
In the upcoming weeks I plan to compare our participation data with our academic data. A quick look at the graduating classes of 2015 and 2016 show that 50% of the students not participating in fall sports attended the alternative school. If Central is like national trends, we will most likely find declining academic scores alongside declining participation.
Central prides itself on high academic and extracurricular achievement. My favorite part about attending a small rural Iowa high school was that I could be involved in anything and everything. Somehow we are losing this with today's students. It will take a whole community effort to get this back.
Seeing these statistics is very helpful, and I look forward to seeing the rest so that a bigger picture can be illustrated for further understanding. However, I don't think calling out specific grades and targeting a demographic is going to increase participation. Pointing a finger at the two grades worth of boys and saying, "You need to go out for sports," isn't all of sudden going to increase the participation percentages you laid out. The better approach might be asking ourselves, “Are we creating the best environment possible for those students to feel like they belong (Maslow’s 3rd level of his Hierarchy of Needs)? Are we providing the best environment that they wish to identify with and be proud of?” Does a program need to be “successful” in terms of winning, most Div I ratings, trophies, etc. for a student to feel like they belong or wish to identify with? I also mentioned on Facebook, but thought I’d mention it here too - we cannot generalize the words “not participating.” Perhaps those students are participating in other extra-curriculars such as FFA, Band, Choir, Theater, Speech, or maybe some other community club. The non-participating you are referring to is just sports.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up Trevor Ragan and growth mindset. Not participating or not being motivated does not equal a fixed mindset. Growth mindset is the belief that I can learn anything, which leads to grit and perseverance. However, just because I choose not to learn what you tell me to (or not participate in what you say I should) doesn’t mean I believe I can’t do it. Mindset and Motivation are not synonymous with one another. I wrote about this in terms of education in a post here. I even use Trevor’s video -> https://www.professionallydriven.com/single-post/2017/07/08/Non-Compliant-Fixed-Mindset
Jarod,
DeleteI only did a quick data dig and wanted to compare apples to apples in terms of participation. That is why I only chose fall sports. Also, students can go out for sports and the fall play, band, etc. The difference is right now our boys aren't choosing to go out for fall sports. We need to dig deeper into the "why".
Maybe participating in more than one thing is too much for one person. One might do band or another activity but maybe they had to choose what they wanted to do because the parents could only afford one or let them go out for one. Maybe they won't do sports because of how many days one needs to sit out because of bad grades. Maybe that is a number one reason is because of grades. Just think about it. It's not always that they don't want to do the sport, but when they do something stops them. Grades stopped me. Bad grades since 8th grade and there is tons of regret but there were so many days that needed to be made up that it was just worthless just going to practice, yeah you become better but doesn't mean you work so hard then in the end you can't play.
ReplyDeleteA reminder to my readers that I typically will not post comments from "anonymous". I chose to this time as the reader brings up an interesting perspective. It has been many years, but I remember hearing Michael Fullan speak once in which he stated "students failing should be given a football helmet". His point was that for many of our students, extra curricular activities were the one thing still keeping them in school. Past and present practice in most schools is we take that away. He also pointed to research and comparing involved students with non-involved students and the academic differences.
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