In the monthly Look Back column, Teresa Preston describes how Kappan authors have addressed the role of sports in schools. Articles have debated whether playing on teams is beneficial to student athletes or whether it distracts them from more important academic pursuits, with most finding that the research is inconclusive. Authors have also considered the amount of time and resources schools commit to athletic programs and whether the programs are worth the investment for the school as a whole. Another area of inquiry has focused on the culture of sports programs and the role of coaches in ensuring that their teams play a positive role in students’ development.

在每月的“回顾”专栏中，Teresa Preston描述了Kappan的作者如何论述体育在学校中的作用。文章辩论了对团队运动员的比赛是否有益于学生运动员，或者是否分散了他们对更重要的学术追求的注意力，大多数发现该研究尚无定论。作者还考虑了学校投入体育项目的时间和资源量，以及这些项目是否值得整个学校投入。另一个研究领域集中在体育项目的文化和教练在确保其团队在学生发展中发挥积极作用方面的作用。