High-School Girls Are Leaving the Basketball Court in Droves—or Are They?

Annual survey that counts high-school sports participation relies on self-reporting, and some guesswork

Why would 13,000 high-school girls suddenly quit basketball, as the latest High School Athletics Participation Survey suggests happened last year?

The answer is: Maybe they didn’t.

The annual survey is the most comprehensive count of high-school sports participation available, and this year’s headline—picked up by dozens of news outlets around...