Why does playing high school sports matter? Because it LOWERS chronic absenteeism (missing 10% or more of a school year).
Nationally, 23.5% of students were chronically absent in 2024, which is 57% higher than pre-pandemic levels and up from 15% in 2019.¹
But students who play high school sports are the exception.
In a study examining daily attendance records and varsity participation data for approximately 262,600 Indiana high school students, chronic absenteeism is far lower among athletes:²
• Varsity athletes: 10.0%
• Non-athletes: 22.9%
Even after adjusting for key student and school characteristics (including poverty, prior achievement, race, gender and disability) as well as weekly variation in absences, the athletes still had substantially lower chronic absenteeism than non-athletes. The difference is smaller (7.7 points) than in the raw data (12.9 points as shown above) but still very large.
Students who play high school sports show up to compete AND to learn, thanks to academic and attendance requirements they must meet in order to participate. That’s because in education-based athletics, education comes before athletics. ALWAYS. That is the order that state high school associations exist to protect.
And parents confirm their schools have these requirements in place:³
• 91% say their student must meet academic requirements to participate
• 89% say their student must meet attendance requirements to participate
The stats don’t lie. Participation WINS.
¹Lingering Absence in Public Schools: Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2024
²An Extra Point for Attendance: The Impact of High School Varsity Athletics on Absenteeism
³The NFHS National Parent Benchmark Study
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THE MISSION
Helping students learn life lessons. Grow as people. Become responsible adults and productive citizens. Why do our 51 state high school associations exist?
To make sure that happens.
Run by educators, our state high school associations protect high school sports and activities by:
So our students have the opportunity to compete, to learn and to belong.
State high school associations believe in the power of high school sports and activities for every student, every school and every community. And they believe the true purpose of high school sports and activities is worth protecting and preserving for generations to come.
Join us in sharing these messages all year long on social media! Together, let’s all #ProtectThePurpose!
