Participating in a policy debate program and academic achievement among at‐risk adolescents in an urban public school district: 1997–2007

Anderson, Susannah; Mezuk, Briana

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.04.005

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Her analysis showed that students participating in the debate activity had a 70% greater chance of graduating high school than their non-debating counterparts did (Mezuk, 2009). This study also found that students participating in the Chicago Urban Debate League had higher cumulative grade point averages and reading comprehension scores than their non-debating equivalents did (see also Anderson and Mezuk, 2012; Mezuk et al, 2011). Shackelford et al (2019) built on Mezuk’s (2009) study to show that students who competed in the Chicago Urban Debate League from 1997 to 2007 were also more likely to enroll in 4 year colleges than non-debaters.…”

Section: Debate and The Promotion Of Academic Growth In Educational Smentioning

confidence: 62%

Passport to the future: Boosting academic outcomes and citizenship through urban debate

Patten

Chapman

2021

Citizenship, Social and Economics Education

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This study examines the impact of a university-high school debate mentoring program on educational outcomes of high school graduates attending a racially segregated school in New Jersey, USA. Evidence shows that from 2011 to 2018, participants had stronger grade point average growth, higher cumulative grade point averages, and higher SAT scores relative to non-debating graduates. The sample ( N = 275) consists of 55 high school graduates who competed on the debate team and a control group of 220 non-debating graduates. Findings indicate debate graduates experienced a 0.81 GPA growth (2.5–3.31) from 9th grade to 12th grade while non-debate graduates exhibited a markedly lower 0.10 GPA growth (2.2–2.3). Debaters scored higher on particular sections of the SAT exam and overall SAT scores. The study provides evidence of the potential efficacy of debate team membership on student outcomes.

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Section: Debate and The Promotion Of Academic Growth In Educational Smentioning

confidence: 62%

Passport to the future: Boosting academic outcomes and citizenship through urban debate

Patten

Chapman

2021

Citizenship, Social and Economics Education

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“…The National Association of Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) articulates its vision as: "All urban youth graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college and their careers and to contribute to their communities" [National Association of Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL), 2019]. In turn, scholarship about Urban Debate League (UDL) programs has focused on the ways that debate positively impacts the grades, attendance, academic achievement and college trajectory of participating students that some researchers have labeled "at-risk" (Anderson and Mezuk, 2012;Shackelford, 2019).…”

Section: Neoliberal Narrative Of Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Without borders: youth debaters reimagining the nature and purpose of public dialogue

Mirra

League

2020

ETPC

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Purpose This paper aims to analyze how a group of middle-school debaters integrated their identities and epistemologies into the traditional literacy practice of debate to advocate for more expansive and inclusive forms of academic and civic discussion. The adult and youth co-researchers of the Debate Liberation League (DLL) detail their creation of a critical debate praxis through the use of spoken word and translanguaging and illustrate how they sought to redesign a foundational activity of English Language Arts on their own terms. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon critical race and borderlands theories, the authors use critical ethnographic and participatory action research methods to explore how the DLL deconstructed the boundaries of what counts as public dialogue and offered an alternative model of what intergenerational and multi-voiced democratic discourse could look like in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms and beyond. Findings The findings demonstrate how DLL students broke down normative binaries of affirmative/negative and objective/subjective in their debate performances and introduced testimonios as evidence for civic claims to make space for their voices and reimagine deliberation. Originality/value This study foregrounds dialogic data generation through a collaborative, intergenerational research approach. It highlights the constructed nature of literacy “rules,” demonstrates youth expertise in reimagining ELA, and offers a pathway toward a more compassionate public sphere.

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“…Evidence from both qualitative and quantitative studies show that debate participation teaches both critical thinking cognitive skills and potentially NCS (Cridland-Hughes, 2012; Davis et al, 2016;Fine, 2010). Moreover, debate participation has been positively associated with positive achievement outcomes including likelihood of graduating high school, performance on college entrance exams, logical reasoning and literacy, and civic engagement and advocacy (Anderson and Mezuk, 2012;Mezuk, 2009;Mezuk et al, 2011;Mirra et al, 2016). Debate clubs are offered in middle and high schools, including in lower-resource urban districts like Chicago Public Schools.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grit, growth mindset and participation in competitive policy debate: Evidence from the Chicago Debate League

Kalesnikava¹,

Ekey²,

Ko³

et al. 2019

Educ. Res. Rev.

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Non-cognitive skills (NCS) contribute to variation in how students respond to challenges inside the classroom and beyond. Competitive policy debate is a co-curricular activity that both encourages cooperative learning and is hypothesized to promote NCS. The goal of this pilot was to examine the relationship between debate participation and change in four NCS among high school students over the course of an academic year. Two surveys (Fall and Spring) were administered during the 2017/18 academic year to students who participated in the Chicago Debate League (n=102). Surveys assessed demographic factors, characteristics of debate participation, and four indicators of NCS each measured using established scales: Growth mindset, grit, mood, and civic engagement. Paired t-tests were used to quantify change in NCS over time. Linear regression was used to assess the relationship between characteristics of debate participation and change in NCS. In the Fall, median length of debate participation was 6.2 months. Average age was 16, most (82%) participants were non-White and 52% were female. Over the academic year, growth mindset increased (Δ=0.29 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.10, 0.48) while grit declined (Δ= -0.17, 95% CI: -0.34, -0.01). Civic engagement and mood were unchanged. Duration of participation was associated with increased change in grit (β=0.04, p≤0.01), but was unrelated to the other NCS. Motivation for joining debate did not explain variation in any NCS. Debate participation is associated with improvement in some NCS. Findings have implications for scalable interventions to promote NCS in the context of cooperative learning.

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Participating in a policy debate program and academic achievement among at‐risk adolescents in an urban public school district: 1997–2007

Cited by 11 publications

References 14 publications

Passport to the future: Boosting academic outcomes and citizenship through urban debate

Passport to the future: Boosting academic outcomes and citizenship through urban debate

Without borders: youth debaters reimagining the nature and purpose of public dialogue

Grit, growth mindset and participation in competitive policy debate: Evidence from the Chicago Debate League

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