EDUC 300 No Pass No Play Policy PDF

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Mandatory essay based off lecture material...

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Running head: NO PASS NO PLAY POLICY

No Pass No Play Policy 10/22/18 EDUC 300 James Madison University

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No Pass No Play Policy I.

Introduction:

When choosing a topic for this research paper, the No Pass No Play Policy stood out to me because I was a three-sport athlete when I was in high school. Along with being an athlete, I was also a consistent honor roll student. It was always hard trying to juggle my Advanced Placement coursework while attending practices and games regularly throughout the academic year. While I generally did not struggle inside the classroom, many of my fellow teammates had a different story. I remember as a student athlete, my teammates and I would have a tendency not to talk about school work and just pour all of our energy on the football field, basketball court, or baseball diamond. Sometimes, the love of the game would consume some of my fellow teammates to the point that they would forget about the other important things in life, such as academics or life at home. They would set sports as their main and only priority. Even though becoming the best athletes we could was one of our top goals, it was always apparent that there were a few teammates that did not have passing grades in certain high school courses due to their time management skills. Under No Pass No Play students must pass all their academic courses to be permitted to participate in extracurricular activities such as athletics, music, drama, etc. This law, although seems unfair by the many people who are affected by it, implements and outlines the importance of academics and encourages student athletes to become stricter in their time management habits. Although I understand how hard it is to balance school life and being a student athlete, I believe that the No Pass No Play Policy should be taken into effect in more states (as a state-wide provision) throughout the United States. Everyone should be on a level playing field, both academically and athletically. II.

Pros:

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No Pass No Play Policy Texas adopted the No Pass No Play law as a part of a sweeping educational reform package in 1984. States like California, Michigan, and New York leave it to the counties to decide if they want to implement this provision (Jurenas, 1987). According to Sabatino, the Texas legislature passed the No Pass No Play provision requiring that a student have a 6-weeks average of at least 70% in every course or sit out of all extracurricular activities for the next 6 weeks (1994). Before this law was in place, a student retained eligibility by passing as least three courses during the preceding semester (Sabatino, 1994). Educators and lawmakers anticipated three potential outcomes to the No Pass No Play provision, one positive and two negative: 1) Students were expected to fail fewer courses overall in order to maintain their eligibility for extracurricular activities; 2) Students were expected to drop out at a higher rate when they lost their eligibility to participate in extracurricular activities; 3) Students were expected to enroll in fewer higher level or honors courses in order to maintain their eligibility for extracurriculars (Sabatino, 1994). These three anticipated outcomes/hypotheses were not necessarily correct. According to a 1988 study of high school students in the Austin (TX) Independent School District, Ligon finds the following five statistics, all of which are pros: 1) The percentage of high school failing grades declined by almost 3% from the 1984-85 school year to the 1987-88 school year; 2) The rate of decline in failing grades was greater for students who were enrolled in courses associated with extracurricular activities such as music or physical education; 3) Although the dropout rate for students participating in varsity sports may have slightly increased during this four year period, the overall dropout rate did not increase under the influence of No Pass No Play; 4) The percentage of honors course enrollments remained over 13%, growing from 13.6% to 13.9%; 5) A slight majority (52%) of AISD high school students agreed that the No Pass No Play policy encouraged them to receive better grades (Ligon, 1988). In Sabatino’s “A

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No Pass No Play Policy Look Back at the No Pass/No Play Provision,” she finds that all the above findings were still applicable in 1994 with even stronger percentages. The combination of lower failing rates, lower dropout rates, and increased honors enrollment rates show how the No Pass No Play policy has positively motivated students to pursue higher grades in the hopes to participate in extracurricular opportunities. A statistic pulled by SBNation shows that Texas has the largest percentage (13.8%) of top ranked football prospects in the United States. Certainly, there are many factors between physical ability and academic capability, but one can only assume that there may be the slightest correlation between these two. This may be because the sport (football in this case) is treated as a privilege and not a right. It is often found that when something, such as football and other extracurriculars, is taken away or treated as a privilege, people will tend to work harder in order to receive what they yearn for. Texas high school student athletes are motivated to participate in the classroom and devote their energy academically, so they can be rewarded with the opportunity to take part in their passion, whatever it may be. III.

Cons:

No Pass No Play places more academic stress on students to perform well enough to participate in extracurricular activities. This stress along with the long hours of studying and participating in the extracurriculars may have a negative impact on that child’s development. In “No-Pass, No-Play: An Issue That Won’t Go Away,” Jurenas states that “opponents (of the provision) claim that the rule ‘kills the spirit of the school,’ that it will cause more kids to drop out, and that it is ‘at best, a highly questionable strategy,’” (1987). There are many examples of how No Pass No Play can hurt specific students. For example, there may be a transfer student who does not know English very well. He or she is thriving in their Spanish class but is

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No Pass No Play Policy struggling in their English Literature class. Due to their failing grade in English Literature, he or she is ineligible to apply for the after-school Spanish Honors Club. This not only hurts the academic development of the child but hinders the social development even more. Another example, which involves football, of how the No Pass No Play provision could negatively alter the students involved is in Jurenas’ article. Jurenas states in his article that a Texas high school head football coach earns an annual salary of $43,000 and the average applicable district’s teacher income is $24,500 (1987). Another lopsided number is that a newly created high school football stadium in that same district was built for $6.1 million. This shows where the money is in Texas and who has more of a say in the student-athletes’ academics (not necessarily the teachers). Some student-athletes maneuver around the 70% rule with the following impromptu exception: “A school principal could excuse students from the requirement if those students are in classes identified as ‘honors’ or ‘advanced,’” (Jurenas, 1987). In certain situations, the principal may be pressured by the football coaching staff/community into granting exceptions to star players who maintain less than the 70% grade minimum. Ultimately, there are clear and understandable exceptions that need to be dealt with on a case to case basis; however, there are also abuses of power that take place with the No Pass No Play provision. IV.

Opinion:

I believe that most states should partake in the No Pass No Play provision in some way, shape, or form. States should be able to edit the 70% to an acceptable value or edit the provision to however fits that state’s needs. If more states partook in the No Pass No Play provision, they would most likely experience the same movements in the rise of academic trends that Texas has been seeing over the allotted years in each article. The No Pass No Play law will presumably influence the students affected by the provision to practice better time management skills, to

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No Pass No Play Policy restructure what should be set as a priority, and to enhance the students to become more wellrounded in all aspects, school and extracurriculars, instead of just one. On the other hand, I do believe there needs to be exceptions for students with mental and physical disabilities. I also think that there needs to be an addition of a Special Circumstance Exception Application that you can be considered exempt on a case-by-case basis with the approval of your principal, school board, or county representative. This will eradicate the unfair disadvantages that some students may face when enforcing the No Pass No Play provision. V.

Conclusion:

The positive successes of No Pass No Play tend to be downplayed throughout time. “Clearly, because No Pass No Play began during a time when many other changes were being implemented, one cannot conclude with assurance that this one provision change is responsible for these outcomes,” (Sabatino, 1994). Although there are minor positive results in two of these articles, the results are not a direct correlation due to the massive Texas education revamp in the early-mid 1980s. Also, the scholarly articles applied during this research paper were mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. This could mean that the information is outdated or that the issue is necessarily a hot topic in education currently. Overall, the policy does need to be tweaked. The decision of whether or not a state or county chooses to implement the No Pass No Play is a mere reflection of what those states’/counties’ priorities are. The education system often tends to be neglected by government officials. If the No Pass No Play provision is implemented in some form, I believe education statewide will see positive results, as long as there are certain edits to the policy as a whole.

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No Pass No Play Policy VI.

References

Jurenas, A. C. (1987). No-Pass, No-Play: An Issue That Won't Go Away. American Secondary Education, 15, 1-3. Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41063810.pdf? refreqid=excelsior:ae18437017f5b3ffd6c4f44b20addebb. Kirshner, A. (2017, January 24). All 50 states, ranked by their number of elite college football recruits. Retrieved October 22, 2018, from https://www.sbnation.com/college-footballrecruiting/2016/6/28/12040586/rankings-state-stars-florida-texas-california League, U. I. (n.d.). Academic Eligibility Basics. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://www.uiltexas.org/academics/resources/eligibility/ Ligon, G. (1988). No Pass--No Play: Impact on Failures, Dropouts, and Course Enrollments. Austin Independent School District, Tex. Office of Research and Evaluation, 1-18. Retrieved October 21, 2018, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED300422.pdf. Sabatino, M. (1994). A Look Back at the No Pass/No Play Provision. Austin Independent School District, Tex. Office of Research and Evaluation, 1-25. Retrieved October 20, 2018, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED379304.pdf.

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