National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2007
« back to 2007 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index
|
The NCAA News
The Division II Academic Requirements Committee is recommending an increase in the number of core courses required to establish initial eligibility from 14 to 16 beginning with the entering collegiate class of 2013.
The committee proposal for the 2008 Convention also specifies that the two additional core courses include one unit of English, mathematics or natural or physical science and another in any core area.
Committee members, who met February 4-6 in Indianapolis, based their recommendation on research indicating that current Division II core-course requirements are lower than the admission criteria for enrollment at most Division II institutions and lower than most high school graduation requirements across the United States.
Members also cited research showing that most high school graduates already are completing at least 16 core courses. Accordingly, the committee believes the increase will not come as a shock to the secondary school community, and that it will in fact more closely align Division II academic requirements with current high school academic achievement patterns.
In addition, Division I recently implemented the same increase effective for the entering class of 2008, though the breakdown of subject-matter requirements is different than the Division II model.
“Just looking at the data seemed to indicate that the time was right to recommend an increase,” said Kevin Schriver, chair of the committee and faculty athletics representative at Southwest Baptist University. “We knew Division I was increasing, we knew that a number of states already had implemented or were about to implement increases for graduation requirements, and we knew that the typical Division II school is already set at requiring anywhere from 15 to 19 core courses for admission. Knowing all those factors set the landscape for our proposal.”
The committee recommended an August 1, 2013, effective date to provide plenty of notice. The legislation gives next year’s eighth-grade class the heads-up necessary to calculate their academic progression for high school.
Schriver said the group considered a phased-in approach, first from 14 to 15 and then from 15 to 16, but the idea did not gain momentum, primarily because of the data showing that most students already meet the higher mark.
“In changes like this,” he said, “you always have reservations about those individuals in transition. In the end, the committee felt that delaying implementation until 2013 keeps this from being be an overnight shift. We have time to educate students about the reasons for recommending the change.”
The Management and Presidents Councils will consider the recommendation at their April meetings.
In addition to core-course requirements, the ARC recommended the Councils sponsor legislation for the 2008 Convention to require submission of Academic Performance Census data by the applicable deadline to avoid forfeiting Division II institutional enhancement funds in the following academic year.
Currently, APC data submission is voluntary. Only about 15 to 20 percent of Division II institutions meet submission deadlines; thus, the ARC believes the premium placed on research in academic decision-making warrants the stricter guideline.
“The APC data provide the vital information used by the Division II membership to study student-athletes’ academic performance, determine academic-eligibility rules and consider the impact of various academic policies by gender, sport or ethnicity,” Schriver said. “These data represent the most important academic information collected by the Association, and are required to understand the effects of academic-eligibility legislation.”
Committee members noted that APC data may be submitted through the Academic Tracking System, which is the same system for reporting the institution’s Academic Success Rate. The effective date for the proposal is August 1, 2008, though institutions will be required to submit data from the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years during the first year of disclosure. The penalty will be effective during the first year of required disclosure.
February 7-9/Indianapolis
The committee proposal for the 2008 Convention also specifies that the two additional core courses include one unit of English, mathematics or natural or physical science and another in any core area.
Committee members, who met February 4-6 in Indianapolis, based their recommendation on research indicating that current Division II core-course requirements are lower than the admission criteria for enrollment at most Division II institutions and lower than most high school graduation requirements across the United States.
Members also cited research showing that most high school graduates already are completing at least 16 core courses. Accordingly, the committee believes the increase will not come as a shock to the secondary school community, and that it will in fact more closely align Division II academic requirements with current high school academic achievement patterns.
In addition, Division I recently implemented the same increase effective for the entering class of 2008, though the breakdown of subject-matter requirements is different than the Division II model.
“Just looking at the data seemed to indicate that the time was right to recommend an increase,” said Kevin Schriver, chair of the committee and faculty athletics representative at Southwest Baptist University. “We knew Division I was increasing, we knew that a number of states already had implemented or were about to implement increases for graduation requirements, and we knew that the typical Division II school is already set at requiring anywhere from 15 to 19 core courses for admission. Knowing all those factors set the landscape for our proposal.”
The committee recommended an August 1, 2013, effective date to provide plenty of notice. The legislation gives next year’s eighth-grade class the heads-up necessary to calculate their academic progression for high school.
Schriver said the group considered a phased-in approach, first from 14 to 15 and then from 15 to 16, but the idea did not gain momentum, primarily because of the data showing that most students already meet the higher mark.
“In changes like this,” he said, “you always have reservations about those individuals in transition. In the end, the committee felt that delaying implementation until 2013 keeps this from being be an overnight shift. We have time to educate students about the reasons for recommending the change.”
The Management and Presidents Councils will consider the recommendation at their April meetings.
In addition to core-course requirements, the ARC recommended the Councils sponsor legislation for the 2008 Convention to require submission of Academic Performance Census data by the applicable deadline to avoid forfeiting Division II institutional enhancement funds in the following academic year.
Currently, APC data submission is voluntary. Only about 15 to 20 percent of Division II institutions meet submission deadlines; thus, the ARC believes the premium placed on research in academic decision-making warrants the stricter guideline.
“The APC data provide the vital information used by the Division II membership to study student-athletes’ academic performance, determine academic-eligibility rules and consider the impact of various academic policies by gender, sport or ethnicity,” Schriver said. “These data represent the most important academic information collected by the Association, and are required to understand the effects of academic-eligibility legislation.”
Committee members noted that APC data may be submitted through the Academic Tracking System, which is the same system for reporting the institution’s Academic Success Rate. The effective date for the proposal is August 1, 2008, though institutions will be required to submit data from the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years during the first year of disclosure. The penalty will be effective during the first year of required disclosure.
Other highlights
Division II Academic Requirements CommitteeFebruary 7-9/Indianapolis
- Recommended noncontroversial legislation to permit a two-year college transfer student-athlete to use the nonrecruited student exception to the transfer residency requirement, provided he or she has not competed for any previous institution and has not engaged in countable athletically related activities at any previous institution beyond a 14-day consecutive calendar period.
- Approved a series of editorial revisions for the 2008 Division II Manual regarding progress-toward-degree provisions in Bylaw 14.4. The revisions are the result of staff recommendations and subsequent review from the ARC’s progress-toward-degree waiver subcommittee. The ARC believes the revisions will help the membership understand the complexities of the progress-toward-degree legislation.
Core-course allocation
If approved, the proposal to increase core courses to 16 would produce the following distribution:| English | 3 |
| Math | 2 |
| Natural/Physical Science | 2 |
| English, Math or Natural/ Physical Science | 3 |
| Social Science | 2 |
| Additional/Any core area | 4 |
| Total | 16 |
© 2010 The National Collegiate Athletic Association
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy