We examine the association of structured and unstructured extracurricular activities on academic achievement for youth with a history of child welfare system involvement. Using longitudinal data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (NSCAW II) and fixed effects ordinary least squares regression models we examine this association for 905 youth aged 11–17 years old. We find that even moderate levels of participation in structured extracurricular activities are associated with improvements in both math and reading achievement. Specifically, moving from non-participation to involvement in structured activities leads to a 4.46-point increase in applied problem solving and a 2.99-point increase in letter-word identification scores, net of the other controls. These findings suggest that children and youth with child welfare system involvement can benefit from participation in structured activities. This finding is significant in light of federal policy recognizing the importance of “normalizing” activities that enhance the well-being of children and youth in the child welfare system.

我们研究了结构化和非结构化课外活动对有儿童福利系统参与历史的青少年学业成就的关联。使用来自全国儿童和青少年福祉调查 II (NSCAW II) 的纵向数据和固定效应普通最小二乘回归模型，我们检查了 905 名 11-17 岁青年的这种关联。我们发现，即使适度参与结构化的课外活动也与数学和阅读成绩的提高有关。具体来说，从不参与到参与结构化活动导致应用问题解决能力提高 4.46 分，字母单词识别分数提高 2.99 分，扣除其他控制。这些研究结果表明，参与儿童福利系统的儿童和青少年可以从参与结构化活动中受益。鉴于联邦政策认识到在儿童福利系统中提高儿童和青少年福祉的活动“正常化”的重要性，这一发现意义重大。