The major purpose of this study was to determine how no pass, no play has impacted the perceptions of academic player eligibility as perceived by high school coaches in Educational Service Center, Region 20, Texas. Variables such as coach characteristics, school characteristics, and community characteristics were researched. In addition, the study examined the influence gender and ethnicity of the coach had on their perceptions of no pass, no play. The study focused on the perceptions of coaches to no pass, no play relating to (1) student motivation, (2) instructional issues, (3) ethnicity specific variables, (4) student suspension variables. The relationship between poverty status in the district, annual household income, the type of sport, and demographic variables such as the gender, experience level, and ethnicity of the coach were also examined. Respondents’ answers were dependent upon a number of variables. The gender of the coach was a variable that reappeared as significant throughout the study. The ethnicity of the coach and minority population in the school also showed to be significant variables. Lastly, the type of sport, poverty status in the district, percentage of economically disadvantaged students on the campus, the annual dropout rate, and annual household income were also variables that significantly impacted the study. Findings of the study included: 1. Female coaches were four times more likely than male coaches to believe that no pass, no play was an effective motivational tool. 2. Female coaches were 87% more likely to feel that allowing students to practice while they are ineligible to participate motivated students to stay in school. 3. As the annual household income in the district increased, so did the likelihood that the coach perceived students to feel threatened by no pass, no play, resulting in increased study time by the students. 4. The type of sport did not have an impact on coaches’ perceptions that in order to influence student eligibility, parents and student-athletes challenge failing grades assigned by teachers. 5. As the number of ineligible students increased, the likelihood of an athlete making better grades following suspension decreased.

The State of Texas implemented the No Pass-No Play Rule within House Bill 72 in the spring semester of 1985. The addition of this section to the state education code was a part of the state's efforts toward educational reform. The perceived rationale implied in House Bill 72 is that extracurricular activities can inspire student motivation and increase student achievement. The No Pass-No Play Rule seems to imply that there is a relationship between student achievement and extracurricular activities, and further implies that a student can be motivated to achieve by the desire to continue to participate in extracurricular activities. The problem of this study was a comparison of academic achievement for high school pupils involved in extracurricular activities and those who did not participate in extracurricular activities under the Texas No Pass-No Play Rule. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of extracurricular activities on the academic achievement of high school students, specifically looking at the years 1983 through 1986, when the No Pass-No Play Rule was implemented. This study was an ex post facto study with data obtained from a cooperating Texas school district. Students were matched on critical variables, and their scores on a measure of achievement were analyzed to determine if there was any relationship between extracurricular activities and achievement. Repeated measures of achievement were also analyzed to determine if students involved in extracurricular activities scored differently from those not involved in extracurricular activities over this time period in which the No Pass-No Play Rule was implemented. Results indicated that for those students involved in this study, there was no significant difference on a measure of achievement for students involved in extracurricular activities and those who did not participate. Results also indicated that in the years 1983 through 1986 all students involved in the study declined slightly in their achievement scores, regardless of involvement with extracurricular activities.

The problem of the study was to ascertain the perceptions of high school personnel and students regarding the effectiveness and implementation of the educational reforms and the No-Pass, No-Play section in Texas House Bill 72 and compare them to changes in reported student academic performances. Questionnaires were mailed to a stratified random sample of fifteen high schools in Texas. Six persons were asked to respond at each school. The sample consisted of ninety participants. In addition, each school provided forty student grade profiles, twenty from 1984 and twenty from 1986. The instrument, "Questionnaire on Texas Educational Reform Legislation, Extracurricular Activities and No-Pass, No-Play," had eighteen questions. Questions one and two provided demographic data for the study. Questions three through eighteen assessed the perceptions of high school personnel and students regarding educational reforms and the "No-Pass, No-Play" rules. Hypotheses one through four used chi-square Tests of Independence to determine the significance among variables. Hypothesis five used a t value to measure the comparison of the grade-point averages from 1984 and 1986. Hypothesis six compared the result of hypothesis five and a z value generated from a comparison of a percentage of participant responses and the neutral value. The findings were that of 120 chi-square calculations only ten showed significance for 8.3 percent of the total. There were no significant differences found among the variables regarding the questions asked. There was a significant difference in what study participants thought about students' achievement and the actual differences in the student grade-point averages. A major conclusion was that the participants believed that students were achieving more academically since Texas House Bill 72 and "No-Pass, No-Play." In summary there were six findings, eleven conclusions, seven general recommendations, eight specific recommendations and six recommendations for further study reported as a result of this research.