Crazywade
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several high schools around the country, including 2 from NC.
http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/458244.html
| Quote : | "The NCAA's decision to stop accepting transcripts from some non-traditional high schools and review others because of questionable academic records has forced school officials to defend their practices.
The NCAA is looking to prevent so-called "diploma mills" from producing graduates simply so they can acquire athletics scholarships. The NCAA has disqualified 25 schools, including two from North Carolina.
Officials at Raleigh's Word of God Christian Academy were stunned Thursday that they were on the list of schools from which transcripts would not be accepted for NCAA play. A Word of God student could be admitted to college but would not be eligible for NCAA competition.
"This is truly a miscommunication," Word of God principal Anesha Pittman said in a statement issued by the school. "We clearly have and will always do what's needed to make sure that we abide by NCAA Clearinghouse standards.
"We expect to be cleared by the NCAA in the near future. It's truly just a matter of submitting paperwork to the NCAA on a national level."
Pittman said the NCAA has not visited the school's campus but declined to comment further.
Assessing schools and whether they are producing legitimate high school graduates has been a priority for NCAA president Myles Brand. NCAA director of member services Jennifer Strawley and others scrutinized transcripts and course content for nearly 100 schools. Schools that did not meet standards or failed to submit requested information were added to the list.
Schools on the disqualified list can appeal.
"We're trying to be fair in the process," Strawley said Thursday.
Word of God, a small private school located on Rock Quarry Road, opened in 1993. This past year, it had approximately 60 students enrolled in its high school program. The school also houses approximately 35 middle school and 85 elementary school students. The school was founded by Frank Summerfield and competes in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association.
Word of God is a member of the Association of Christian Schools International, a group that provides academic accreditation for schools around the country. The association has 600 members in the Southeast, 100 of which are accredited.
ACSI associate director Bob Hodges said Word of God has not officially applied for accreditation but has a strong history as a school.
"They've shown a consistency in the direction of the program," Hodges said. "The school has demonstrated a consistency in leadership and a consistency in how they operate."
Private and independent schools in North Carolina operate with limited state oversight. The State Board of Education doesn't accredit schools, public or private, but public schools are subject to annual review through student testing.
"By state law, non-public K-12 schools set their own academic standards," said Jill Lucas, director of public information for the N.C. Department of Administration.
Aside from meeting state and local health and safety standards, private schools are required to register with the state Division of Non-public Education and administer standardized tests of their choosing at various grades.
For private high schools, that means testing 11th-graders with a nationally standardized exam that measures competency in English and math. The results have to be kept by the school for at least a year and made available for state inspection.
Beyond that, the schools can seek accreditation by recognized independent organizations that can attest to upholding certain academic standards.
College admissions officers often rely on that kind of accreditation as an indication of a school's quality, especially for schools with which they've had little experience or few candidates.
"The oversight is accreditation," said Stephen Farmer, director of admissions at North Carolina. "We don't admit schools. We admit students who attend schools, and we try to be mindful that there might be incredibly talented students from schools we've never heard of. We try to get a bead on both the candidate and the context of their school."
Still, Farmer said, the NCAA's information about academic quality at certain schools weighs against them.
"It's helpful background information," he said, "and it's not good information for students at those schools."
Thomas Griffin, director of undergraduate admissions at N.C. State, said admissions decisions are likely to rely more heavily on objective measures such as SAT scores when students apply from schools that lack accreditation.
"It can be one of the more difficult parts of the admissions process to learn about different high schools and to understand the kinds of programs that they have," Griffin said.
Word of God was not the only North Carolina school to draw the NCAA's attention. New Horizon Christian Academy in Conover was also included on the list of disqualified schools.
The NCAA also released a list of 22 schools from which recent graduates have been cleared for this fall, but the NCAA pointedly said those schools, including Durham's Mount Zion Academy and Raleigh's Stevens Prep Academy and Bonner Academy, could be subject to review in the future.
Mount Zion principal Peggy McIlwain said the school "is going through the accreditation process" and would not provide further details until she learned more about the NCAA decision.
Stevens Prep officials could not be reached for comment, and a listed number for Bonner Academy was disconnected.
One school that was on the list that surprised many was powerful Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. Oak Hill president Michael Groves expressed dismay with the NCAA's decision.
"Stunned and embarrassed that we'd be on such a list," said Groves, who said his school is accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools. "They [the NCAA] have never been to campus, never called me. I called twice and left messages. ... We have done nothing wrong, yet we've never been a question of impropriety."
Meanwhile, UNC-Wilmington basketball recruit Charles Baker is left to wonder about his future. He attended Word of God before being expelled and then graduated from Bonner Academy. The NCAA's Strawley said all individual cases are being reviewed.
"It's stressful," said Baker, who attended Apex High for four years before he reclassified as a senior. "Something you've worked so hard for could be gone away, just like that."
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[Edited on July 7, 2006 at 8:31 AM. Reason : .] 7/7/2006 8:30:55 AM
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