NCAA self-studies: great source for detailed SAT and other info plus recruiting

Papa Chicken · 06-05-2007, 09:01 AM

INTRODUCTION

As an appreciator of open information, I enjoy it when I find new sources of that info. The Common Data Set (CDS) provided publicly by most schools is an example of that kind of open information. The CDS info is standardized in content and definition allowing comparisons between schools for those of us in shopping mode. US News, Petersons, and other secondary reporters use the CDS data to base their annual college rankings and information guides.

I stumbled across a new class of such standardized information, namely reports of NCAA certification self-studies, studies which are replete with information potentially enlightening to folks comparing colleges. These reports, although limited to just NCAA Division I schools and those within that D1 group that have recently completed a self-study on a ten-year cycle, contain information potentially useful to student athletes looking for how the school recruits and for which sports, as well as many characteristics of an incoming freshman class, like GPA and SAT breakdowns on gender, recruits, and racial categories…..info which I have not found elsewhere.

Some background on the NCAA self-studies….. Beginning in 1993, the NCAA instituted a process of “certifying” the intercollegiate athletics program at all institutions that participate at the Division I level. The NCAA certification process requires that institutions engage in a comprehensive self-study conducted by a committee representative of the institution as a whole. The self-study is done by each institution on a ten year cycle. The self-study should assess the institution’s compliance with seven major “operating principles” like academic integrity. Specific information must be provided in response to 70 “self-study items” that relate to these principles (like SAT scoring breakdowns under academic integrity.) The certification program’s purpose is to help ensure integrity in the institution’s athletics operations. The process opens athletics to the rest of the university community and to the public. Institutions benefit by increasing campuswide awareness and knowledge of the athletics program, confirming its strengths, and developing plans to improve areas of concern. Therefore, the resulting self-studies are usually publicly available documents.

In the following post, I have listed institutions with links to their NCAA self-studies that I could locate on the web. I find the info on how they recruit and academic measures within the Academic Integrity section most interesting. Some schools’ gender and demographic disparities are eye-opening. Note that reporting metrics are not always consistent between schools….some report SATs, some use GPAs, some use both. Also, Yale as an example, some report SATs with the last “0” removed, something explained in their text, but one might be confused if looking only at the tables. Like the CDS openness, or lack of it, some elite schools remain secretive about their info like Harvard which put zeros in all of their SAT tables....guess some things will never change!

Please post more links if you find them!

Papa Chicken · 06-05-2007, 09:02 AM

goaliedad · 06-05-2007, 03:32 PM

Great Stuff Papa Chicken.

Only one oops that I've found. You have the link for University of Tennessee Martin listed as Tennessee (generally the University of Tennessee is regarded as the campus in Knoxville).

Interesting to see from a small sample of schools I looked at that typically male admits (general population) have higher SAT scores than female admits, while male athletes tend to have significantly lower scores than female athletes.....

I guess Title IX doesn't address these issues, only playing opportunities.

Papa Chicken · 06-05-2007, 04:44 PM

thanks goaliedad...yes, I noticed that pattern as well...only school I've come across thus far that doesn't exhibit that gender pattern in Albany....also, I don't think Yale did either, or at least to the same degree.

Beside trying to find a few more of these reports, I also hope to figure out which institutions have been recently recertified that have NOT posted their info on their web...found one so far: Davidson...recertified last year, with a web page dedicated to the subject, but its blank w/ no report...bet it was there a while back for comment & pulled it once they were certified...my cynical mind at work...

KateLewis · 06-05-2007, 10:19 PM

Fantastic. Wish I'd found this about 6 months ago.

menloparkmom · 06-05-2007, 10:21 PM

Where is Stanford's report?

menloparkmom · 06-05-2007, 10:25 PM

Can you reattach the full report for Dartmouth, including the Appendices that are listed on the title page, but are not on the report itself?

Papa Chicken · 06-06-2007, 10:08 AM

menloparkmom-- I couldn't find the finalized, entire version of Dartmouth's report, but did find the main page where all of the main self-study sections were posted for comment (I had only posted the Academic Integrity section above):
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/features/ncaacert/

Those linked sections do not, however, contain the attachments or appendices unfortunately. I searched on Darthmouth's athletic web site as well without success.

ps...not providing the attachments is Dartmouth's way, I suspect, of not disclsing the SAT info and other sensitive info. Harvard and Brown also figured out ways to exclude that info....but most other non-Ivies seemed to include that info...plus Yale appears to be the lone Ivy that was bold enough to disclose that info.....go figure, the most elite are not the most open, and I thought academic strength was in part based upon open forums & debate!

Papa Chicken · 06-06-2007, 10:10 AM

I could not find a current Stanford report available.

ericatbucknell · 06-11-2007, 11:00 AM

in addition to the highly relevant info on athletics, perhaps the information of interest to the most people on this board is in yales report, in which average sats are given for all entering freshmen based on race (data that is otherwise very difficult to come by, for obvious reason).

Code:

ethnicity        avg sat
am ind           1347
asian/pl         1482
black            1338
hispanic         1336
white            1450
other            1462

the above numbers are from the class entering in 01-02.

TribecaMom · 06-11-2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

some elite schools remain secretive about their info like Harvard which put zeros in all of their SAT tables....guess some things will never change!

Although Harvard did not fill out the tables, there is interesting relevant info within the report:

Quote:

......both the athletes and non-athletes admitted by the institution have excellent
academic credentials. There is less than a 100-point difference between the average SAT scores of recruited
student-athletes and those of students in general, and the differences within ethnic and gender categories are
similarly small. Harvard is comfortable with these small differences between the admission profiles of its student-
athletes and the profiles of students in general, given the unusually large time-commitment associated with
students in consuming extra-curricular activities such as sports, music, or dance at a national or international level.
In this country and throughout the world, the time-commitment that excellence in academic and extra-curricular
activities requires has increased significantly. Students sometimes begin athletic careers soon after entering
primary school and pursue their sports year-round. As students progress toward high school, the demands on their
time for conditioning, training, and athletic contests rise dramatically. Often students are obliged to travel weekly
through much of the year because of their sports. Traveling squads can require students to be on the road weekly.
Athletic contests may necessitate traveling hundreds of miles, and on occasion they may even include international
travel. Some young athletes choose to leave home altogether to attend athletic training facilities or national Olympic
development programs.

This unusual time-commitment can be a fact of life for students involved in other extra-curricular activities, such as
dance and music. However, it definitely touches a large percentage of athletes and can have a harmful effect on
every-day schoolwork. It can to some degree decrease a student's opportunity to engage in test preparatory
courses and can lead to a decrease in standardized test scores.

1Love · 08-06-2008, 03:30 AM

Great stuff on this discussion page! I hope you were made aware by your high school's college counselor that the NCAA Eligibility Fee (formerly the Clearinghouse) is going up $10 more in September. I guess even the NCAA is feeling the recession. To pay only $50 hurry and sign up at NCAA Eligibility Center Online.