The Association's research effort has resulted in the creation of extensive databases providing information unmatched anywhere else.

The NCAA's Academic Performance Census provides crucial data that impact decisions regarding various aspects of academic performance, while health and safety issues are monitored through the Association's Injury Surveillance System.

Academic Performance Census

The NCAA began compiling data pertaining to academic performance by collecting information about student-athletes who entered Division I institutions in 1984 and 1985, just before implementation of Prop 48.

Known as the Academic Performance Study, that database eventually yielded information that was analyzed by NCAA researchers and used by decision-makers during consideration of Prop 16 in 1991. It ultimately provided information -- covering student-athletes' journey from initial enrollment to graduation -- for classes that entered Division I institutions beginning in the mid-1980s.

"We were able to deliver a product unique in education research, never before seen," said Todd Petr, current NCAA managing director of research, about the APS data. "This was information that could be brought to bear beyond experience and beyond anecdote."

In 1994, the NCAA established the Academic Performance Census for the purpose of assessing the impact of Prop 16. That study, which produced data crucial in the adoption of recent academic reform in Division I, today continues to track academic behaviors of student-athletes. The research assesses graduation status after six years for all Division I student-athletes (about 26,000 a year), first-year outcomes and graduation status for all Division I student-athletes who are on athletically related financial aid (about 13,000 a year), and yearly outcomes on a sample of Division I student-athletes receiving athletics aid.

The APC's value is boosted immensely by the availability of data from the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse, also established in 1994. "The NCAA has been able to use these data effectively to ascertain impacts of rules, and develop cutting-edge models for the prediction of academic success in college," Petr said. "These data are absolutely unique in educational research."

Injury Surveillance System

The NCAA Injury Surveillance System (ISS) was developed in 1982 by Eric Zemper, the NCAA's first full-time research staff member. Since then, it has been a valuable tool in the Association's efforts to develop and evaluate appropriate safety rules and policies.

The ISS annually collects injury data from a representative sample of member institutions that is then reviewed by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, as well as NCAA sports and rules committees. The data are used as a foundation upon which to strengthen health and safety guidelines. It has been supervised since the late 1980s by Randall Dick, NCAA associate director of research.

Data from the ISS were important in the recent implementation of preseason football conditioning restrictions. Surveillance system data indicated an injury rate across all divisions in preseason practice that was four times higher than the regular-season injury rate. That finding led to elimination of back-to-back multiple daily practice sessions. The competitive-safeguards committee, noting that fatigue was the primary factor in many of those injuries, recommended additional recovery time between strenuous workouts for football student-athletes to refuel, hydrate and recover from injury.

The ISS is being converted to a Web-based data collection format that should significantly enhance the system by the fall of 2004.

-- Jack Copeland