The NCAA News - News and FeaturesFebruary 17, 1997
Panel studies data from students who
weren't listed on clearinghouse requests
The committee that administers the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse is learning more about what happens to students who register with the clearinghouse but never are included on an Institutional Request List (IRL).
More than half of students in the high-school class of 1996 who registered with the clearinghouse -- 67,307 of 130,822 students -- were not included on an IRL by NCAA Divisions I and II schools. A student's inclusion on an IRL indicates that an institution is seeking a determination of that student's initial-eligibility status.
The large number of students who are not listed on IRLs concerns the Special Committee to Oversee Implementation of the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse, because those registrants create significant work for the clearinghouse and do not participate in athletics during the freshman year.
Those concerns prompted the committee to ask the NCAA research staff last summer to study the issue.
During its January 28-30 meeting in Marco Island, Florida, the committee received preliminary data from that study. Initial findings from the study, involving students who registered with the clearinghouse during 1995, include:
Most students who registered learned from a high-school coach that they must do so to participate at an NCAA Division I or II institution.
Nine of every 10 clearinghouse registrants who never were listed on an IRL reported no problems in obtaining a final certification. In comparison, two of every 10 clearinghouse registrants who were listed on an IRL encountered problems.
Three-quarters of registrants who were not listed on an IRL currently attend college full time. Nine of 10 attend college either full or part time.
Nearly three quarters of those registrants who currently are attending college are enrolled in a four-year college. The remainder attend a two-year college.
Less than four in 10 registrants who were not listed on an IRL are participating in collegiate sports (compared to six in 10 students who were listed on an IRL). More than a quarter of the non-IRL sports participants report that they compete in Division I -- a finding that researchers will study further because Division I institutions can determine a student's initial eligibility only by listing that student on an IRL. More than a third of non-IRL participants are in Division III, while one in 10 participate in Division II.
The study also reveals that not every student who registers with the clearinghouse fully expects to participate in intercollegiate athletics. Among students who were not listed on an IRL, 16 percent said they did not expect to participate, and only four in 10 non-IRL students expected to receive athletics-related financial aid.
The Special Committee to Oversee Implementation of the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse will receive a final report from researchers in April. The final report will include correlation of responses obtained from students with data provided by the clearinghouse.
The committee took no actions in response to the preliminary report, but did make a recommendation involving the clearinghouse's handling of certifications for registrants who are not listed on an IRL.
The committee recommended that the clearinghouse not be required to issue a final certification for a student who remains unlisted on an IRL six months after that student's graduation from high school. Committee members made the recommendation after noting that the clearinghouse has not completed certifications for approximately 30,000 1996 high-school graduates who are not listed on an IRL.
The intent of the recommendation is to permit the clearinghouse to give priority to completing the certification of current high-school seniors who are listed on an IRL.
Customer service
The committee also addressed customer-service issues during its recent meeting.
Responding to concerns relayed to the clearinghouse by the NCAA staff, the clearinghouse informed the committee that it has implemented several policies for customer-service representatives who handle telephone inquiries from NCAA institutions and others.
The policies:
Customer-service personnel will provide their first name to callers.
Personnel will accept messages from callers, and callers can expect a response to those messages within 48 to 72 hours. Institutional personnel calling for assistance with problems on lines dedicated to use by NCAA institutions can expect a response within 24 to 48 hours.
A caller can request a return call from a supervisor in cases where a customer-service representative is unable to answer a question.
The clearinghouse also will instruct customer-service representatives on specific situations in which a representative either should forward a call to another clearinghouse staff member or take a message from the caller.
Conference concerns
In another matter involving clearinghouse operations, the committee reviewed a letter from compliance coordinators at Collegiate Commissioners Association-member conferences.
The letter expressed concerns about several aspects of the clearinghouse's operations, including the manner in which it prioritizes the completion of certifications and its procedures for timely notification to high schools regarding decisions on acceptance of core courses. The compliance coordinators also suggested ways of improving high schools' access to the clearinghouse.
The committee will respond to the coordinators' letter, noting that some of the concerns recently have been addressed through implementation of a new core-course review process.
The committee also responded positively to the coordinators' suggestion that they be permitted to conduct educational sessions regarding the core-course review process for high-school academic counselors, and that high-school representatives be permitted to view a February 17 national videoconference on that topic at NCAA members' campuses.
Other highlights
Special Committee to Oversee Implementation of
the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse
January 28-30/Marco Island, Florida
Recommended to the NCAA Academic Requirements Committee that it consider requesting an NCAA Council waiver of the initial-eligibility requirement that Division I student-athletes must complete a fourth high-school core course in English, pending completion of that committee's current review of Division I core-course requirements and any action that may result from that Council-directed review. The review seeks to determine whether the English requirement, among other requirements, accurately reflects curricula in the nation's high schools. The clearinghouse committee noted the significant number of recent initial-eligibility appeals involving the English core-course requirement and expressed concern about the lack of opportunity that exists to make any revisions in the requirement prior to the August 1, 1997, implementation of the new Division I governance structure. The clearinghouse committee noted that students seeking initial-eligibility certification this spring and summer would be unable to benefit from any revision in the requirement that could be enacted after that date, and therefore relief may be justified pending resolution of the matter.
Reviewed changes that recently have been implemented in the process for determining what high-school courses qualify as core courses and plans for informing high schools of the revised procedure. The committee expressed support for a planned informational campaign that features a series of mailings to high schools regarding the procedures, as well as a national videoconference scheduled February 17 for the purpose of providing information about the process. The committee also recommended that the Association continue to conduct the videoconference in future years.
In a review of clearinghouse staffing, discussed whether the revised core-course review process will affect the workload of the clearinghouse's core-course evaluators. The committee determined that the number of courses for review likely will increase, but that the new process should reduce the amount of time that an evaluator devotes to review of a specific course. The committee asked the clearinghouse to conduct a study to determine how long it will take the clearinghouse to evaluate a course under the new procedure, and postponed any recommendations regarding staffing until that study is completed.
Recommended that the Academic Requirements Committee review the intent of 1997 Convention Proposal No. 90, a proposal adopted in Divisions I and II that permits a student to use core courses graded on a pass/fail basis to meet initial-eligibility requirements. The new legislation, which originally was proposed by the Academic Requirements Committee, requires that the clearinghouse assign such a course the lowest passing grade at the high school where the course is offered. The clearinghouse committee believes that in cases where a high school requires a higher "grade" score for successful completion of a pass/fail course than is generally required by the school, it is appropriate for the clearinghouse to credit the student with the higher grade. It is asking the Academic Requirements Committee to consider whether that position is consistent with the intent of the legislation.
Learned that 44 institutions have not yet complied with the Council's requirement that Division I institutions must establish a computer modem link with the clearinghouse, and agreed that the committee chair will correspond with those institutions to remind them of the requirement.
In response to a Council recommendation, the committee agreed that the clearinghouse will list the certification status of a student as "preliminary" in cases in which the clearinghouse has not received all of the student's transcripts, and will discontinue rendering a "not certified" decision in such cases.
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