WHAT INFLUENCES THE AVAILABILITY OF STEM AND OTHER EXTRACURRICULAR CLUBS IN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS?

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive categorization of extracurricular clubs (e.g., robotics, STEM, and business clubs) in hundreds of American high schools and examines how socioeconomic factors—such as race, income level, pupil-teacher ratio, and school size—affect the quantity and variety of these clubs. We reveal that robotics clubs have become the most prominent extracurricular activity in promoting electrical and computer engineering, as well as STEM fields at large, outperforming even math clubs, with 38.9% of schools hosting them. Although schools across different socioeconomic backgrounds all manage to offer robotics clubs, school demographics do affect the total number of clubs a school provides. Nevertheless, successful schools are capable of expanding their extracurricular offerings despite these constraints. Specifically, within schools of similar demographics, the top 25% offer 8.8 times more clubs than the bottom 25%.