Feature Article by Dr. Steven M. Constantino, Ed.D.

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I'm Tired of the Debate

I have been involved in public education for 29 years. I began my career as a high school band director and rose through the ranks of leadership through to my present position as Associate Superintendent for Leadership and Learning in Cobb County, Georgia. For all of these 29 years, I have listened to, and participated in, the debate as to whether or not co-curricular and extra-curricular activities assist students in meeting higher levels of achievement. Quite frankly, I am tired of this debate.

I am well aware of the research. Half the researchers want us to believe that students involved in these types of activities are more likely to reach higher levels of academic success. The other half of the researchers want us to believe that the students who choose activities are already the academically successful students and the notion that activities beget achievement is false.

Does it matter? I for one want to know why we continue to try and prove one argument over the other. The goal is to help all of our students achieve at high levels. As long as they are involved in activities and doing well in school, why can't we just be happy about that?

My experiences over the last 29 years suggest that there is merit in both of these arguments. As a former band director, I freely admit that my students were among the higher-achieving students in the school. My colleagues constantly reminded me that I was “lucky” in as much as I had students who chose my class as opposed to being forced to take it as part of a required academic sequence. The other faculty members believed that I taught “all of the good kids.” Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.

I do recall that during my years as a marching band director of a highly successful marching band in upstate New York, the vast majority of the girls in the color guard were also involved in our special education program.

These students searched for an activity that would allow them a chance to be connected and involved. I can still these girls, all 44 of them, tossing flags in the air in perfect unison, while marching in precision. I don’t remember anyone calling these students the most high-achieving students in the school. For me, however, they won every competition they entered and took the State Championship trophy home every year.

In my role as a high school principal, a group of Latino students approached me and asked if they could start a break-dancing club. I did not hesitate to say yes. They met all the requirements and started their club. I told them that to maintain their club, they would have to meet the same academic eligibility requirements as students involved in our other activities. These students were part of our ESOL program and struggled every day to make academic gains. They practiced after school in our main hallway almost every day. They were an amazing group of students. About two or three months later, the ESOL teacher stopped me in the hallway to inform me that all of the students who were part of the break dancing club had made significant academic gains and were attending school regularly. Again, no one labeled these students the most academically gifted. They brought down the house during one of our spirit week pep rallies. More than 2,000 students rose to their feet in applause after a spectacular break dancing performance never before seen in our school.

Recently, I attended a ceremony to honor one of our high school marching bands selected for the Presidential Inaugural Parade. While I was there, I met the drum major of the band. Four years earlier, this young lady was searching for something to which she could belong. The band director invited her to participate in the color guard as part of the marching band. She said she would “try it,” but made no promise that she would continue with it. Four years later, as a senior in high school, she led the marching band down Pennsylvania Avenue and right in front of the new President of the United States. She is neither the valedictorian or the lowest performing student at the school.

Are my findings scientific? Perhaps not. But, these are real experiences and they represent hundreds of experiences I have had in my career that lead me to one conclusion: Whether bright kids are involved, or whether involvement makes kids smarter, involvement in activities is a good thing.

Can we please just stop the debate, encourage students to get involved, and then step back and celebrate their success?

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Dr. Steven M. Constantino, Ed.D., is the Associate Superintendent of Leadership and Learning for the Cobb County School District in Georgia. He is the co-founder and former president of Family Friendly Schools, an organization dedicated to engaging
families in the academic lives of children. He can be reached at steven.constantino@cobbk12.org.