NCAA Division I Academic Reform: An Update

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NCAA Division I Academic Reform An Update

• Carol Reep
• Katy Yurk

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Overview of Session

• Initial-eligibility standards.
• Initial-eligibility trends and issues.
• Progress-toward-degree standards.
• NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program
  rates of measure.
• Penalties and incentives structure.

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Academic Reform as a Package

• Individual student-athlete accountability through
  increased academic-eligibility standards.
• New academic rates of measure, real-time rate and
  better graduation rate.
• Team performance accountability through
  contemporaneous and historical penalties.
• Institutional/athletics department academic
  accountability through historical penalties.
• Rewards and recognition to academically
  high-achieving teams.
• ALL components critical to overall academic
  improvement.

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Initial-Eligibility Standards

• Initial-eligibility legislation adopted October
  2002/April 2003.
• Increased number of core courses and changed the
  grade-point-average(GPA)/test-score sliding
  scale.
• Eliminated partial qualifiers as a category.
• Eliminated use of computer science courses unless
  such courses are in the mathematics or science
  areas.

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Initial-Eligibility Standards

• Currently PSAs must pass 14 core courses as
  follows
• English (four years)
• Math (two years)
• Natural/physical science (two years)
• Social science (two years)
• Plus one additional year of English, math or
  natural physical science and
• Additional courses from above or foreign
  language, philosophy or nondoctrinal religion
  (three years).

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Initial-Eligibility Standards

• Effective August 1, 2008, PSAs must pass 16 core
  courses as follows
• English (four years)
• Math (three years)
• Natural/physical science (two years)
• Social science (two years)
• Plus one additional year of English, math or
  natural/ physical science and
• Additional courses from above or foreign
  language, philosophy or nondoctrinal religion
  (four years).

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Initial-Eligibility Trends and Issues

• High school reviews.
• Prospective student-athlete (PSA) reviews.

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Charge of Initial-Eligibility Trends Working Group

• NCAA President Myles Brand authorized creation
  of a working group to review initial-eligibility
  trends for the purpose of reviewing recent trends
  in secondary-school education and how such trends
  should impact NCAA legislation and academic
  policies.

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Final Working Group Recommendation Additional
Review

• Amend NCAA Division I Bylaw 14.1.2.1 to provide
  the NCAA the authority to conduct an academic
  review of any high school and a review of any
  PSAs academic record.
• The review may result in a determination that the
  high school or PSAs academic credentials may
  not be used for the purpose of meeting
  initial-eligibility requirements.
• The reviews will be conducted consistent with
  established policies and procedures.
• Adopted by NCAA Board of Directors and NCAA
  Division II Presidents Council in April.

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High School Review Process

• NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse will
  review high schools based on policies and
  procedures.
• Based on information provided by the high school,
  the school will be evaluated by NCAA staff to
  determine if high school is validated.
• Evaluation may include on-site visit.
• Process will be conducted for all high schools in
  clearinghouse database.
• If high school is invalidated, it may appeal to
  the high school review group.
• Report provided to NCAA Division I
  Academics/Eligibility/ Compliance Cabinet and
  NCAA Division II Academic Requirements Committee
  on an annual basis.

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Individual Prospective Student-Athlete Review
Process

• Basic Process PSA Review
• Clearinghouse will review individual records
  based on policies and procedures.
• If issue is identified and PSA is not on the
  Institutional Review List (IRL), the case is put
  on hold.
• If issue is identified and PSA is on the IRL,
  institution is notified that PSA needs special
  review and additional information is needed.
• Institution works with PSA to obtain additional
  information.
• Case is forwarded to NCAA staff staff reviews
  information to determine if record should be
  accepted.

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Individual Prospective Student-Athlete Review
Process

• Staff may issue the following decisions
• Validate the academic record and remove
  indication of special review.
• Validate the academic record, but indication of
  special review remains.
• Determine if academic record should not be
  accepted.
• If record is not accepted, clearinghouse runs
  final certification without use of academic
  credentials.
• Institution may appeal decision to the NCAA
  Student Review Group.

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Continuing-Eligibility Standards

• Continuing-eligibility legislation adopted
  October 2002/April 2003.
• Changed credit-hour requirements to better assess
  that a student-athlete is functioning as a
  student during the academic year.
• Increased the degree-completion percentage
  requirements.
• Increased the GPA percentage requirements.

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Continuing-Eligibility Standards

• Student-athlete who initially enrolled in college
  after August 1, 2003, must fulfill the following
  credit-hour requirements
• Pass six hours of academic credit during the
  preceding regular academic term
• Pass 18/27 hours during each regular academic
  term
• Pass 24/37 hours prior to the start of the
  student-athletes second year of college
  enrollment.

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Continuing-Eligibility Standards

• Student-athlete who initially enrolled in college
  after August 1, 2003, must fulfill the following
  percentage-of-degree requirements
• Complete at least 40 percent of the declared
  degree before the start of the third year of
  enrollment
• Complete at least 60 percent of the declared
  degree before the start of the fourth year of
  enrollment
• Complete at least 80 percent of the declared
  degree before the start of the fifth year of
  enrollment.

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Continuing-Eligibility Standards

• Student-athlete who initially enrolled in college
  after August 1, 2003, must fulfill the following
  grade-point- average requirements
• Present a cumulative GPA equal to 90 percent of
  the GPA the institution requires for graduation
  at the start of the second year of enrollment
• Present a cumulative GPA equal to 95 percent of
  the GPA the institution requires for graduation
  at the start of the third year of enrollment and
• Present a cumulative GPA equal to 100 percent of
  the GPA the institution requires for graduation
  at the start of the fourth and any subsequent
  years of enrollment.

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Academic Performance ProgramRates of Measure

• Graduation Success Rate (GSR).
• NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR).

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Graduation Success Rate

• Why the GSR?
• More accurate than the federal graduation rate.
• Includes transfers into an institution.
• Includes midyear enrollees.
• Removes student-athletes who withdraw and would
  have been academically eligible to compete the
  next regular academic term had they returned.
• Calculated for every sport.

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Graduation Success Rate (cont.)

• Data submitted electronically via
  password-protected Web site.
• Data used in analysis for historical penalties
  and in appeal process.
• Failure to submit will result in an institution
  being declared ineligible for postseason
  competition, including NCAA championships.

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Academic Progress Rate

• Why APR?
• Real-time rate.
• Includes all student-athletes meeting the
  definition of the cohort on a team in a given
  year (as opposed to entering class).
• Used in analysis for contemporaneous and
  historical penalties and public recognition for
  successful programs.
• Points awarded for eligibility/graduation and
  retention.
• Term-by-term measurement.

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Academic Progress Rate (cont.)

• Totaled over four years.
• Includes currently enrolled student-athletes
  receiving institutional financial aid based in
  any degree on athletics ability.
• OR
• For nonscholarship programs/teams, a subset of
  full-time recruited student-athletes who, on or
  after the varsity team's first date of
  competition in the championship segment, are
  listed on the varsity team's roster.
• Data is submitted electronically (please attend
  the data-collection sessions for updates).

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Academic Progress Rate (cont.)

• Two available points each academic term.
• E point student-athlete meets all academic
  eligibility standards (e.g., institutional,
  conference, NCAA) for the next academic term.
• R point student-athlete is enrolled full time
  as of the fifth week of class of the next term.
• points earned
• points possible

X 1000 APR
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Academic Progress Rate (cont.)

• Due date for APR data is six weeks after the
  institution's first day of classes in the fall
  term.
• Failure to submit will result in an institution
  being declared ineligible for postseason
  competition, including NCAA championships.
• 0/2 refers to a student-athlete who was not
  retained and not eligible in the next academic
  term.
• Adjustments to data are available more details
  in the data-collection session.
• Professional departures.
• Medical hardship.
• More details in data-collection guide.

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Penalty and Incentives Structure
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Academic Performance Program Penalty Structure

• Two different penalty structures.
• Contemporaneous penalties.
• Intent is to encourage improved academic
  performance, serve as a warning for
  underperforming teams and help avoid the more
  serious historical penalties (e.g.,
  rehabilitative in nature).
• Historical penalties.
• More significant punitive measure for teams that
  habitually under perform academically.

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Contemporaneous Penalties

• Financial aid restriction.
• Teams with an APR below 925 are subject to
  contemporaneous penalties if
• Any student-athlete departed the institution and
• Did not earn eligibility (0/2).
• Penalty aid previously awarded to a
  student-athlete who did not earn eligibility for
  the next regular academic term and did not return
  to the institution (0/2) cannot be re-awarded.

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Contemporaneous Penalties Determining the Penalty

• Penalty must be taken at the next available
  opportunity.
• Some exceptions apply (e.g., student-athlete with
  no athletics eligibility remaining).
• Maximum limit on the number of penalties.

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Historical-Penalty Structure

• Incremental penalties.
• Occasion 1 public warning.
• Occasion 2 recruiting/financial aid/practice.
• Occasion 3 competition restrictions.
• Occasion 4 membership status.
• Bylaw 23.2

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Institution X Habitually Underperforming Team

• 2006-07 Occasion 1 public warning.
• 2007-08 Occasion 2 financial aid, recruiting
  and practice limitations.
• 2008-09 Occasion 3 preseason and
  postseason limitations.
• 2009-10 Occasion 4 membership status.
• Must have three clean years or institution
  progresses to next occasion.

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Historical Penalties By the Numbers

• 2006-07 0.5 to 1 percent of all squads or
  approximately 30 to 60 teams.
• 2007-08 When squad-size adjustment is no longer
  in effect, 2.5 to 6 percent of all teams or
  approximately 150 to 360 teams.

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Historical-Penalty Structure

• Approved by NCAA Division I Board of Directors in
  August.
• This structure will be used this year to
  determine historical penalties, including
  Occasion-One Public Warning.
• Referred to as Improvement Plus.

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Historical-Penalty StructureStep One

• Is the teams multiyear APR below 900?

Yes Proceed to step 2.
No Team not subject to historical penalty. STOP.
Squad-size adjustment will be used in 2006-07
for all teams. After 2006-07, squad-size
adjustment used only for teams with Nlt30. NOTE
900 APR correlates to approximately 50 percent
GSR.
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Historical-Penalty StructureStep Two

• Is the team demonstrating meaningful APR
  improvement toward 925?

Yes Proceed to step three.
No Team subject to historical penalty unless
waiver granted.
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Meaningful Academic Progress Rate Improvement
Step Two

• A statistical analysis that identifies meaningful
  APR improvement.
• Accounts for squad size.

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Historical-Penalty StructureStep Three

• Is the team outperforming expectations given
  institutional academic characteristics,
  institutional financial resources or academic
  levels in the sport?

Yes Team not subject to historical penalty.
No Team subject to historical penalty unless
waiver granted.
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Institutional Characteristics Step Three

• Student-athlete academic performance (by team)
  compared to student-body academic performance at
  institution.
• Student-athletes must have an APR that projects
  to a federal graduation rate of 10 or more
  percentage points higher than the student-body to
  meet this filter.

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Academic Progress Rate/Federal Graduation Rate
Concordance Chart
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Institutional Characteristics (cont.)

• Example APR of 850, projects to federal
  graduation rate of 10 percent.
• Student-body federal graduation rate is 20
  percent.
• This team would NOT meet this filter.
• Team would need an APR of 890, projects to a
  federal graduation rate of 30 percent to meet
  this filter.

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Institutional Characteristics (cont.)

• Comparison of financial resources at an NCAA
  Division I institution to identify the bottom 10
  percent of schools. Teams in lowest 10 percent
  will compare favorably.
• Variables
• Per capita educational expenditures.
• Per capita athletics department operating
  expenditures.
• Average number of Pell Grants among all students.

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By-Sport Comparison Step Three

• Teams must be above the 10th percentile to
  compare favorably.
• APRs Needed to Meet By-Sport Filter

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Academic Progress Rate -Improvement Plans

• Teams with a multiyear APR below 925 without the
  use of the squad-size adjustment are required to
  create an APR-improvement plan.
• No reporting requirement file on campus.
• Should include broad-based participation on
  campus.

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Incentives/Rewards

• Public recognition.
• Top 10 percent in each sport based on team APR.
• Released March 1, 2006, and annually thereafter.
• Other incentives.
• To be finalized over the next year.

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• Questions?