The NCAA News - News & Features

Clearinghouse committee urges use of core-course listings

The clearinghouse currently has a library of 48-H forms that list approved core courses at more than 19,000 high schools in the United States. The special committee is urging NCAA institutions to use that library "proactively" in evaluating whether prospective student-athlete who are being recruited are meeting core-course requirements.

The committee agreed during its October 6 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, to encourage greater use of the 48-H library.

NCAA institutions can use the library for purposes such as checking whether a recruit's current course schedule includes classes at the prospect's high school that are recognized by the clearinghouse as core courses.

Use of the library can alert institutions to cases where a prospect is falling short of meeting core-course requirements or is enrolled in too many nonapproved courses.

Modem access

Committee members noted that institutions can check a high school's 48-H form via computer modem.

As a result of action earlier this year by the NCAA Council, all Division I institutions must be equipped to communicate with the clearinghouse via modem by January 1, 1997. The clearinghouse provides 22 modem links for use by member institutions.

Approximately 110 Division I institutions have not yet established a computer link with the clearinghouse.

The special committee reviewed the recent installation of the modem links and of nine telephone lines reserved for NCAA institutions' use. The committee noted that the telephone lines appear to be meeting the needs of institutions that have experienced difficulty contacting the clearinghouse in the past.

The committee reminded institutional personnel that the dedicated telephone number should not be provided to anyone outside the institutions (including high schools and parents).

Committee members also reviewed use of the computer modem links. The committee received a report that fewer than five percent of callers have encountered busy modems upon dialing into the clearinghouse.

In hopes of improving that statistic, the clearinghouse staff authorized the clearinghouse to limit institutions' connection time by breaking any link that remains inactive for 10 minutes.

E-mail capability

The special committee also continued to study the feasibility of offering access to the clearinghouse staff via e-mail.

The clearinghouse has agreed to establish a separate e-mail address for each conference in Divisions I and II. Each conference office will be asked to inform its member institutions of the address where those institutions can send inquiries to and request information from a designated clearinghouse staff member.

The e-mail program will be tested for six months beginning approximately January 1. The clearinghouse staff will monitor use of the e-mail address and report at the end of the test period whether the clearinghouse can handle e-mail without upgrading its current Internet capabilities.

The committee hopes that e-mail accessibility, combined with institutions' use of the computer modem links, eventually will result in a significant reduction of telephone calls to the clearinghouse.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Special Committee to Oversee Implementation
of the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse
October 6/Kansas City, Missouri

* Discussed the impact of recently enacted NCAA core-curriculum standards for initial eligibility in Division I that require the completion of four units of high-school English. The special committee asked the NCAA Council to consider during its October 7-9 meeting directing the NCAA Academic Requirements Committee to review core-curriculum requirements, and specifically the English requirement. The special committee said it believes the current requirement does not accurately reflect existing high-school English curricula, and expressed concern over numerous instances in which students are satisfying high-school graduation requirements calling for the completion of four units of English but are falling short of NCAA core-curriculum requirements by a half unit.

The special committee also recommended that the Council direct its Subcommittee on Initial-Eligibility Waivers to be more flexible in granting waivers in cases where students are a half unit short of meeting the NCAA English core-course requirement. The special committee said that waivers should be available to students who can demonstrate on a transcript the completion of four English units that count toward high-school graduation and of 3.5 units that meet NCAA standards.

During its subsequent meeting, the Council asked the Academic Requirements Committee and the NCAA Presidents Commission to review subject requirements for core courses, and specifically to review the English requirement (see October 21 issue of The NCAA News). It did not recommend specific changes in initial-eligibility standards.

* Discussed a recently adopted procedure for review of core courses that identifies NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse and Academic Requirements Committee responsibilities in the review process and establishes a 90-day time period during which high schools may submit documentation in support of courses for clearinghouse review. The special committee recommended that the procedure specify a timeline for completion of various steps in the review process following receipt of required documentation. It also recommended that the receipt of documentation be acknowleged in a letter to the high school that submitted the information. The purpose of the recommendations is to assure high schools that progress is being made toward a decision regarding a course.

* Reaffirmed to the Council that the clearinghouse is fulfilling its stated purposes: to contribute to the improvement of graduation rates of student-athletes at NCAA institutions and to create a "level playing field" for member institutions by maintaining integrity in the initial-eligibility certification process.

* Received information from the NCAA research staff regarding a planned study of students who register with the Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse but are never included in any institution's request for certification information. The research staff hopes to complete the study in time for review at the special committee's spring 1997 meeting. As of October 3, institutions had requested information on 65,720 of the 125,098 students in the high-school class of 1996 who have registered with the clearinghouse.

* Reviewed an audit of clearinghouse foreign-student certifications by the NCAA Foreign-Student Records Consultants, who reported that such certifications are being handled accurately.