High school athletes and athletic leaders gain higher testscores

Does participating in high school athletics programs help or hinder students from getting good grades? In new research, Ryan Yeung finds a link between academic achievement and athletic participation in high school. Using data from a study begun in 1980, he finds that those students who were athletes or athletic leaders had grades between 8 and 13 percent higher than those that were non-athletes. He argues that the skills developed as a participant or leader on an athletic team are also useful in the academic sphere.