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Academic Evidence of Impact

The NYCUDL provides access to academic debate opportunities to over 4,034 students in all five boroughs. 80% of these students come from Title I schools. This is accomplished through partnerships with the New York City Department of Education’s NYC Reads program, community school districts 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15 & 16 and over 250 individual schools. These opportunities are life- changing. Participation in debate is shown to bolster academic achievement by increasing attendance, grade point averages, standardized test scores, high school graduation rates, and college readiness. These metrics show the many ways that debate increases academic success, which ultimately breaks cycles of poverty and increases social mobility.

Test Scores

Consalvi, 2025

  • Debaters saw increases on ELA test scores equivalent to 68% of a full year of average 9th grade learning (Schuler & Larned, 2023)
  • Debaters in the NYCUDL program run in partnership with NYC Department of Education’s NYC Reads program saw standardized reading-power growth of 6.2 points compared to 4.5 points for non- debaters (Mirra et al, 2016)
  • At a NYCUDL school in the South Bronx, the number of debaters that scored proficiently in ELA grew by 18.75% by mid year in comparison to a 8.75% growth for non debaters (Consalvi, 2025)

GPA

Ko and Mezuk, 2021

  • GPAs for Debaters at the end of high school were .66 points higher than similarly situated non-debaters (Ko and Mezuk, 2021)
  • Participating in debate was associated with a gain of 0.02 units in GPA each semester (Mezuk et al, 2011)

Attendance

  • Chronic absenteeism was 10% lower for debaters than their non-debate peers(Shackelford, 2019)
  • Attendance rates for debaters were 3% higher than for non-debaters. Debaters have 94.5% attendance rates while non-debaters had 91.5% (Shackelford, 2019)

Graduation Rates

  • Students who participated in debate were 19% more likely to graduate from high school relative to comparable students who did not debate (Mezuk et al 2011)
  • Debaters are 3.1 times more likely to graduate from high school than non-debate peers (Anderson & Mezuk, 2012)
  • The impact of debate on high school graduation is largest for students who were the lowest achieving at baseline  (Schuler & Larned, 2023)

College Attendance / Readiness

  • Debaters are 12% more likely to attend a postsecondary institution than their non-debate peers (Schuler & Larned, 2023)
  • Debate participation was associated with a significantly greater likelihood of scoring at or above college-readiness benchmarks on the ACT in Reading, English, Science, and Mathematics (Mezuk et al, 2011)
  • Debaters had an average GPA of 3.23 on graduation compared to 2.83 for comparable non-debate students  -- 3.0 or greater is a key indicator of college readiness (Mezuk et al, 2011)

Civic Engagement

  • “Debaters reported greater social conscience, social competence, civic commitment, and importance of education compared to non-debaters. These factors represent elements of debate activity that may connect skills taught in school (e.g., reading comprehension) with social skills, working as part of a team, and involvement with community issues.” (Anderson & Mezuk, 2015)
  • Greater participation in debate was associated with higher civic commitment and perceived importance of education among debaters (Anderson & Mezuk, 2015)

Endnotes

  • Susannah Anderson and Briana Mezuk, “Positive Youth Development and Participation in an Urban Debate League: Results from Chicago Public Schools, 1997-2007”, The Journal of Negro Education (2015)
  • Briana Mezuk, et al. “Impact of participating in a policy debate program on academic achievement: Evidence from the Chicago Urban Debate League”, Educational Research and Reviews (2011)
  • Daniel Shackelford, “The BUDl Effect: Examining Academic Achievement and Engagement Outcomes of preadolescent Baltimore Urban Debate league participants”, American Educational Research Association (2019)
  • Nicole Mirra, et al. "Reading and Writing with a Public Purpose: Fostering Middle School Students' Academic and Critical Community Literacies through Debate." Journal of Language and Literacy Education 12.1 (2016)
  • Beth E. Schueler, and Katherine E. Larned. Interscholastic Policy Debate Promotes Critical Thinking and College-going: Evidence From Boston Public Schools. (EdWorkingPaper: 23-825). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University (2023)
  • Tomohiro M. Ko and Briana Mezuk, “Debate participation and academic achievement among high school students in the Houston Independent School District: 2012 - 2015”, Educational Research and Reviews (2021)
  • Susannah Anderson and Briana Mezuk, Tulane University and Virginia Commonwealth University, “Participating in a policy debate program and academic achievement among at-risk adolescents in an urban public school district: 1997–2007”, Journal of Adolescence (2012)
  • Clive R. Belfield, & Thomas Bailey.  The Benefits of Attending Community College: A Review of the Evidence. Community College Review, 39(1), 46-68. (2011).
  • Consalvi, J: “2024-2025 Port Morris student debate performance.” Unpublished report (2025)