Editor’s note: This essay is an entry in Fordham’s 2024 Wonkathon, which asked contributors to answer this question: “How can policymakers and practitioners radically reduce chronic absenteeism—at least below pre-pandemic levels and preferably much further?” Learn more.
When states and schools dramatically expand access to sports, then chronic absenteeism rates will decrease. Here’s my thinking: If kids are missing school because they are sick and bored (see page 114 of this report), then maybe policymakers and practitioners can make a difference by focusing on health and engagement. A renewed focus on sports is the most tangible and least coercive way to encourage a healthier and more engaged student body.
I will offer three observations about the current state of K–12 sports and three recommendations for practitioners. My bet is that any of these recommendations will dramatically reduce chronic absenteeism.
Bottom-line: The more kids participate in sports, the more they will come to school. It’s time for more players and fewer spectators.
First observation: Less than half of students participate in sports. According to the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), about 7.8 million high school students, or approximately 45 percent, participated in sports. But this also depends on which school you attend. Almost one in four high schools do not offer any interscholastic sports at all, according to a report from the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Second observation: Most high school sports are seasonal, limiting the number of competitions to just a few weeks per year. Football and cross country are in the fall, basketball and track are in the spring. If you’re lucky, there are more than ten football games in a year. That’s about 480 minutes of playing time if you play both sides of the ball for every game of the season. Basketball boasts about twice as many regular season games and maybe three tournaments per year for about the same amount of playing time but for half as many players. What happens when your sport is not in season? The fact is the large majority of students simply don’t have game weeks most of the year.
Third observation: The number and type of sports in high schools don’t match the interests of most kids these days. Schools on average offer about fifteen sports, according to a report by the Women’s Sports Foundation. That is less than half the number of sports in the 2024 Paris Olympics. And new sports are becoming popular. For example, I would bet more kids play pickleball per year than the number of kids who play football.
When a minority of students participates in a small number of sports for only a few weeks per year, you can see that there is a huge opportunity to increase the health and engagement of students simply by expanding opportunities for kids to compete. Here are three recommendations to do just that.
First recommendation: Create a year-round intramural sports program. The benefits of intramurals in college are well known, but for some reason, intramurals appear to be much less prevalent in K–12. The beauty of an intramural sports program in a high school is that a school can effectively increase the number of competitive minutes at a much lower cost and with much more local control. There is no travel, no coordination with other schools, and the school has the ability to set as many competitions or tournaments as desired. And while high school athletic associations may govern competition between schools, their jurisdiction over intramural sports is much less clear. That means the types of sports offered can expand fluidly without permission.
Second recommendation: Expand the types of sports that are offered to include high-interest, low-cost alternatives. The Aspen Institute wrote an entire playbook on how schools could expand participation in sports by expanding the number of sports offered. Did you know that skateboarding, handball, and ping pong are Olympic sports? Why can’t schools offer ultimate frisbee, netball, dodgeball, and taekwondo? The truth is that there are high-interest, low-cost sports out there. Schools just need to ask their students about their interests and adjust their priorities to invest in more sports. It will pay dividends in school culture, attendance, and probably academic achievement.
Third recommendation: Set aside funds so kids can choose a club sport. Remember in the movie Miracle on 34th Street when Kris Kringle inadvertently sets a new policy for Macy’s? If Macy’s doesn’t have it, they will show you another store that does. We need more Macy’s and fewer Gimbels when it comes to sports. If schools demonstrate that their first interest is the health and engagement of students by facilitating that health and engagement anywhere, then I would bet families would love those schools even more. Many public schools out west already do this, even in California.
The benefits of sports programs last well into adulthood. Almost twenty years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published a brief on the longitudinal effects of participation in high school sports. Eight years after high school graduation, former high school athletes were (1) more likely to attend postsecondary education, (2) more likely to be employed, and (3) more likely to be physically fit than their non-athlete peers. For some reason, we’ve forgotten what we already know.
Every kid deserves the opportunity to play sports and to play all year round. I would bet more kids will get off the bench when they have a real chance to play.
