Extra Curricular

Activities
Issues in Illinois Public Schools

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

What is Extra Curricular Activities?

Extracurricular activities are activities
performed by students that fall outside the
realm of the normal curriculum of school or
university education.
Debate clubs
Sports
Newspaper

What is Co Curricular Activities?

Co-Curricular are activities that happens within
the during normal class time.
Band
Choir
Drama
Art
Computers (Technology)

PURPOSE
Extracurricular activities are an intricate part
of education.
Improves schools performance
Reduce grade retention
Increase student attendance
Interest in school
Emotional Growth

BENEFITS

Explore physical activities

Social
Political Interest
Career Interest
Students are more engaged in the
classroom
Positive Support among peers and adult
staff

Issues of Extra Curricular Activities

Budget
Faculty (Staffing)

Seek Volunteers or Local Colleges and

Universities

Class Time
Planning
Evaluation

Issues in Illinois Public School

High School Reform

Home Schooling
Issues and Extra
Curricular Activities

High School Reform Issues

Achievement is too low

Making schools more accountable

NCLB
Government-driven, top-down

High School is a bore

Prevent drop outs

Maximize completions by making the high school
experience more appealing
Allow students to move at their own pace
Recovery programs for drop outs

High School Reform II

One size does not fit all

Devise new institutional forms

Using current technology
Smaller Schools
Give students a choice:

high-tech schools, virtual high schools, charter schools, KIPP

Courses are too easy and pointless

Broaden access to Advanced Placement courses

Strengthen state standards
Revise textbooks
Blend higher educations expectations with modern jobs

Status of Reform in Illinois

Governor Blagojevich signed legislation to

strengthen Illinois high schools by
increasing class requirement for graduation
SB575, Higher Standards, Better Schools
plan and budget

More foreign languages, arts, and music

Training opportunities for career-track students
Advanced Placement classes

Status of Reform

Illinois Juniors take the PSAE

ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) adopted
rules that outline the standards for Illinois teacher
to become highly qualified
CCSSO a five year collaborative project to
identify best practices that transform promising
schools to great high schools (funded by Bill and
Melinda Gates foundation)
Project Lead the Way (PLTW): technology

Illinois Public School of Choice

Provides option for students in schools that have

not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
Gives students in schools identified in school
improvement the opportunity to attend a public
school that has made AYP in the same district

NCLB Component

Homeschooling and The Law

Compulsory attendance law

Common School Movement

New England colonies (17th Cent.)

Requires public or approved non-public school attendance for children
ranging from ages five to sixteen in the area of education and public
schooling (Gordon, Russo, &Miles, 1994)
Parental failure to comply with the law can result in criminal penalties

Jorgenson (1987) defines as a series of state movements occurring

roughly during the period 1830-1860

Government-differentiate

Public
Non-public

Landmark Decision I

Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)

The Supreme Court clearly established that compulsory

attendance laws had to accommodate both public and non
public schooling
Require all school aged children to attend only public school
14th Amendment

The statute infringed upon the rights of parents to choose schools

where their children received both an appropriate education and
religious training
Court confirmed the right of individuals to establish and maintain
both private non-sectarian and private religious schools, and the
right of the state to require attendance at a school did not include
the include the right to preclude attendance at non public schools

Landmark Decision II

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

State control over education

The court recognized the rights of devout Amish parents
not to send their children to school after the 8th Grade
Parents were able to demonstrate that secondary schools
were in direct conflict with Amish beliefs in cooperation,
piety, and simple, agrarian life style
The court reaffirming the States responsibility for the
education of its citizens, but used the Free Exercise
Clause of the First Amendment rather than the Due
Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Landmark Decision III

Johnson v. Board of Education (1983)

Refused an Amish Exception to Baptist who wished to

educate their children in their own schools staffed by non
certified teachers
Baptist ministers argued that since they were
fundamentalists similar to the Amish
Refused to grant them the same exemption would be
denial of equal protection
The Eighth Circuit rejected their argument holding that,
unlike the Amish, these Baptist children lived in ordinary
residential neighborhoods interacting with others not of
their faith (Gordon, Russo, & Miles, 1994)

Landmark Decision IV

People v. Levinson (1950)

Illinois defining case for homeschoolers

More liberal position on the spectrum of academic equivalence
Parents of a seven year old girl were convicted of violating the
states compulsory attendance law
Levinson appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court

Evidence indicated that the mother had been teaching her daughter
at home for five hours a day and the child had demonstrated
proficiency comparable with average third-grad students
The mother is the best teacher
The education in competition with other students produces a
pugnacious character

The Court did not believe that the home school parents had
violated the compulsory attendance law

Illinois Homeschooling Change

Individual home schools may operate as private

or church schools
Section 26-1 of the Illinois School code

If a child is attending a private or parochial school where

children are taught the branches of education taught to
children of corresponding age and grade in public school
and where instruction is in the English language, the child
is in compliance with Illinois compulsory attendance law.

Home School and Extra Curriculum

Activities in Illinois

Home school and Sports Participation

Home school enjoys the same status as the public school

system

Not all Illinois schools allow home schools to participate in

extra curriculum activities

Home school are entitled to participate in any for credit

class that is offered by the public school

The states interest in ensuring that all children have an

access to an education

Homeschoolers and Sports

Illinois High School Association (IHSA)
Interscholastic high school sports are guided by the IHSA,
which is an organization independent of the public
schools with its own rules
Any school, public or private may belong

May form its own teams to play in the IHSA

league (Home schools usually join with
neighborhood team or other home schools

Home Schooling

Can not participate science fair

Can participate in interscholastic high
school athletics

Parents must make a request to the Chief

Education Officer
Must meet the requirements determined
pursuant to the by laws of Illinois High School
Athletic Association and the Chicago Public High
School Athletic Association

REFERENCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracurricular_activities
Finn,C. E.,(2006). Things are Falling Apart, Education Next, pp. 1-2, Winter 2006
Smith, B.,(1998). Its About Time: Opportunities to Learn in Chicagos Elementary
Schools, Consortium on Chicago School Research, December 1998
http://wwww.illinoishouse.org/a09.htm
Buser, R.L. & Humm.W.L. (1980). Special Report on Cocurricular Offerings and
Participation, Springfield, 111.:Illinois State Board of Education, 1980.
http://www.cps.k12.il.us/About CPS/PressRelease/Septemer 2005/hs plan.htm
http://www.smallschool.cps.k12.il.us/grants/html

REFERENCES CONTINUE

Lett, D. (1999). Home Schooling and the request

for access to public school extracurricular
activities: A Legal and Policy Study of Illinois (ED
450470).

Gordon, W.M., Russo, C.J., &Miles, A.S. (1994).

The law of home schooling. Monograph of the
National Organization on Legal Problems of
Education.