National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

August 31, 1998

Research Committee recommends reduction in graduation-rates form

The NCAA Research Committee, meeting July 26-27 in Lake Tahoe, California, recommended to the Division I Strategic Planning Cabinet that the Division I Graduation Rates Supplemental Form be significantly reduced so that it would request information on transfer student-athletes only.

The committee thinks this component needs to be maintained because it is the only place from which it can acquire such information, which enables it to calculate graduation rates for transfer student-athletes. The goal of the move is to reduce the amount of paperwork for Division I members while retaining this important tool.

The committee also expressed thanks to NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey for his recent letter to the national office staff that described the committee's charge to oversee the Association's research portfolio and how other committees and the membership can best use its services.

In other action, the committee received a preliminary report on the Study of Division I Student-Athlete Academic Support Services. This information will eventually be linked to the Academic Performance Census Study, the Mini-Battery of Achievement data, and Graduation Rates data to examine if these support systems play a significant role in the academic performance of student-athletes.

Other highlights

Research Committee
July 26-27/Lake Tahoe, California

  • Received reports from three researchers who are working on initial-eligibility standards projects for the NCAA.

  • Reported that the Progress In College--Student-Athlete Group Experience Study survey instrument (PIC-SAGE) has been finalized. The PIC-SAGE will be administered to selected student-athletes involved in the Basic Academic Skills Study (BASS) at 24 Division I institutions.

  • Agreed to pursue the concept of providing small stipends or other rewards to student-athletes who participate in NCAA longitudinal research studies. It is standard practice on most campuses to provide study participants with a small stipend. The goal is to encourage the participants to remain involved the studies to enable the committee to attain better samples, which should yield more reliable results.

  • Agreed that the research staff should continue to share data with outside groups when it believes that the information will be used appropriately. The national office staff will forward potentially biased or highly politicized requests for data to the committee or other appropriate committees for review before releasing data.

  • Elected Mary Jo Warner of George Washington University as chair to replace Thurston Banks of Tennessee Technological University, whose term expired.