New York City Urban Debate League

Improved grades every semester

While urban debaters enter high school with higher GPA’s on average than non-debaters, their grades improve steadily during high school, in contrast to non-debaters, whose grades remain flat. Urban debaters earn an average GPA of 2.92 at the end of their first semester in high school and gain .02 units in cumulative GPA for each semester that they debate. By the spring of 12th grade, they have an average GPA of 3.06. Non-debaters earn a lower GPA in their first semester of high school, an average of 2.23. They complete high school with an average GPA of 2.30, substantially unchanged.

– The National Association of Urban Debate Leagues