tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5644587556919650515.post5400674966343315412..comments2023-10-11T11:02:06.245-04:00Comments on PROFANE: Grats to the Gators/The Academic National ChampionProfanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05131628865279071396noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5644587556919650515.post-50859973552013766392007-04-16T18:03:00.000-04:002007-04-16T18:03:00.000-04:00Yes Philip, I suppose that Belmont taking down Van...Yes Philip, I suppose that Belmont taking down Vanderbilt would qualify as an academic upset 8-).<BR/><BR/>The metric I am using is the Federally reported 6-year graduation data, which is, as you note, the toughest methodology. The alternative is to utilize the NCAA's 'Graduation Success Rate' (GSR) measure, which DOES take transfers into account. There are several reasons why I am not a big fan of this:<BR/><BR/>1. At the moment the GSR does not<BR/>represent data which is compared against the rest of the student body under the same criteria (one of the advantages, and indeed one of the main points of the Federal data is to make this comparison). <BR/><BR/>2. Since scholarships (not as many as I would like to see, but some!) are at stake with the GSR, it invites abuse. Cheating is advantageous, unlike with the mandated Federal data where there are serious consequences.<BR/><BR/>3. The NCAA has been utilizing the GSR as a propaganda tool - inviting comparison between the GSR for athletes and the 6-year graduation data for the general student population - an apples to oranges comparison since the metrics are different.<BR/><BR/>What is annoying is that the Federal data shows that student-athletes as a whole, and particularly student-athletes in non-revenue sports, graduate at a rate much higher than the general student population. I wish the NCAA would stick to trumpeting that fact, rather than undermining their credibility by utilizing the GSR for a purpose for which it was never intended.Profanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05131628865279071396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5644587556919650515.post-20731296216897659742007-04-16T16:44:00.000-04:002007-04-16T16:44:00.000-04:00Congrats to Belmont for beating us in the Sweet Si...Congrats to Belmont for beating us in the Sweet Sixteen. I'd have to insist that this is an upset ;-) but seriously, thank you for doing this to promote a dialogue about what we can do to promote integrity in college athletics.<BR/><BR/>A subquestion to improving graduation rates is improving the ways we measure grad rates. I know that there are a couple of different metrics, and I'm not clear on which you're using, but it looks like you're using the methodology with the tougher criteria of the two. If that's the case transfers are somewhat more detrimental than they should be. Perhaps you've already posted on the metrics and I've missed it, but if not I'm eager to hear your thoughts on these issues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com