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The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental correlational study was to examine the relationship between extracurricular activity participation and academic achievement among secondary school students in the United States using secondary data from the 2023 National Survey of Children’s Health. This study was important because understanding how structured extracurricular participation relates to academic achievement may help schools and communities better support student engagement and educational outcomes, particularly for students who face barriers to participation. The sample included adolescents ages 12–17 from a nationally representative survey dataset. The study was conducted in a national survey context, and instrumentation consisted of parent-reported survey measures outlining extracurricular participation, academic achievement, and demographic characteristics. Data collection involved obtaining and preparing the public-use dataset for analysis. Statistical analyses were conducted in Stata using survey-weighted procedures and included descriptive statistics, tests of association, regression models, group comparisons, and interaction tests. Results indicated that greater extracurricular participation was associated with higher academic achievement, and students involved in multiple activities showed stronger academic outcomes than those with limited or no participation. Results also indicated that this relationship was generally consistent across gender, family income, and race/ethnicity groups. Conclusions suggested that extracurricular participation may represent an important context associated with academic success for adolescents. Recommendations for further research will emphasize longitudinal designs to clarify directionality, inclusion of objective academic indicators when feasible, and expanded measurement of participation quality, intensity, and duration to better explain how extracurricular experiences relate to academic outcomes.