Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
Abstract
The challenges faced by student-athletes are a growing concern in todays society. Beyond heightened academic requirements, student-athletes face a multitude of tasks including weight training, practice, film review, and travel for competition. This makes the student life very complex. Jolly (2008) indicated that as student-athletes progress through their Educational experience, they experience higher structured time demands in regard to their sport participation, this being very true for college freshman. Venezia and Jaeger (2013) noted that "many studies over the past ten years have documented the disconnect between what high school teachers teach and what postsecondary instructors expect with regard to students preparation for first-year credit-bearing courses in college" (p.119). As a result, to assist all students, states have adopted the Common Core (Common Core State Standard Initiative, 2010) in attempt to level the Educational field, prepare students for college rigor and their chosen career field. Meanwhile, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has also increased its initial eligibility rules to insure its incoming student-athletes are ready for college rigor and athletic participation (NCAA, 2014). However, the State and NCAA academic requirements are different. As a result, this leaves the student-athlete potentially unprepared for the academic rigors and challenges that lie ahead in college. This study looked at all 50 state academic requirements compared to the 2014 NCAA initial eligibility standards. The results of this study indicate the specific qualitative differences in the interscholastic and intercollegiate academic requirements. Based on the differences that were illuminated, recommendations were provided indicating how interscholastic policy makers can adjust their academic requirements to bring them into better alignment with the intercollegiate level. Future research will allow for the understanding of how the state-level academic requirements affect student–athlete preparation for the Division I level.
Recommended Citation
Gard, Ashley N., "A Historical Document Analysis Comparing High School Academic Eligibility Standards To NCAA Academic Standards In 2014" (2015). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1523.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1523