A new study by Susannah Anderson and Briana Mezuk shows that among adolescents who are the most at risk of not graduating high school, participation in debate leads to significantly higher graduation rates and better grades and ACT scores.

Anderson and Mezuk compared academic results for debaters against those of non-debating students, based on risk indicators that measured poverty (free lunch status, neighborhood poverty) and learning challenges (special education status, low 8th grade standardized test scores). 

Overall, debaters were three times more likely to graduate than non-debaters. The most dramatic difference was seen among the highest risk students, with 72% of debaters graduating compared with 43% of students who did not debate. 

The study also measured the impact of intensity of participation (number of rounds debated) and competitive success (ratio of wins to total rounds debated) on academic performance. Not surprisingly, both quantity and quality of participation significantly increased the likelihood of graduation and performance on the ACT.

Read the full study here.