Executive Summary: Lowest Performing Schools

• Dr. Briana Mezuk conducted research in conjunction with the University of Michigan, the Chicago Consortium on School Research, and Chicago Public Schools, evaluating the effects of participation in urban debate on key academic variables: graduation rates, college readiness, and secondary literacy.
• Debate participation improved graduation rates:
• The overall rate of high school graduation for Chicago students in the research sample is 55 percent.
• Urban debaters in Chicago schools graduated at a rate of around 80 percent.
• African-American males in Chicago schools graduate at a rate of about 45 percent.
• African American males who participated in the Chicago Debate League were almost 70 percent more likely to graduate than their non-debater peers.
• Debate participation improved college readiness:
• Urban debate students increased their GPA by 0.20 (20 percent of a letter grade).
• African American male urban debaters increased their GPA by 0.5 (50 percent of a letter grade).
• Urban debate students were 50 percent more likely to reach the ACT English benchmark than non-debater students.
• African American male urban debaters were twice as likely to reach the ACT English benchmark as non-debater students.
• Debate participation improved secondary literacy:
• African American males who participated in urban debate were 70 percent more likely to reach the ACT benchmark in Reading than non-debater counterparts.

Read "Addressing the Lowest Performing High Schools: Urban Debate as a Pathway to College and Career Readiness" here.