Future prospective student-athletes could be asked to meet different initial-eligibility benchmarks, pending a review of the standards by the Division I Academic Cabinet.

The cabinet began a review of initial-eligibility criteria at its meeting last week, and the group developed a set of guiding principles for its work examining the academic standards in the future.  

Cabinet members, who hope to improve the academic success rate of student-athletes in their first year at college, will examine the factors that are generally believed to predict success at the college level.

Part of the review included an extensive study of data showing the success rate of student-athletes related to their high school academic profiles, as well as the success rate of student-athletes who received waivers of initial-eligibility criteria.

The committee reviewed initial-eligibility data from past years that showed the impact of heightened standards at the time the changes were made, including the elimination of the test-score floor and the implementation of an extended sliding scale of high school grade-point average related to test scores. The data showed that the high school grade-point average in core courses clearly was the key indicator of future college success or failure.

While the group hasn’t reached a consensus about any changes to the standards, the cabinet did draft some basic principles intended to guide its future discussions. The committee is seeking membership comment on feedback on those concepts.

• Any new standards should improve likelihood of first-year success (defined as meeting progress-toward-degree requirements) while minimizing adverse impact on low-income prospects.
• Any new standards should be considered minimum requirements and should not interfere with member institutions’ authority and responsibility for making admissions decisions locally.
• The cabinet’s review will include consideration of data, changing secondary school standards and the different ways high school students can meet the initial-eligibility criteria.
• Any new standards should be easily applied nationally and internationally.
• Any changes to initial-eligibility standards need to be simple and easily understood by high school administrators, prospective student-athletes and parents.
• Any new standards should not create or expand the opportunity for “loopholes.”
• When establishing timelines for implementation of any new standards, the cabinet should consider prospects’ abilities and opportunities to meet increased standards.
• All waiver decisions should include a data-driven analysis of academic factors in addition to an analysis of mitigating circumstances.

The review will rely heavily on academic data gleaned from the Academic Performance Program and other sources. The cabinet wants to see more data about the impact possible changes would have on the student-athlete population, different sports, genders and minority subgroups. Members also want to look at the high school academic profile of freshman student-athletes who end up being “0-for-2” or “1-for-2” in the Academic Progress Rate calculation and consider how high-school academic performance might indicate the level of remediation that might be necessary for college-level success.

The cabinet will review membership feedback at the group’s next meeting in September and have a more full discussion about how to improve the academic success of student-athletes through changes in the initial-eligibility structure.