Download or read book Examining The Relationship Between Student Engagement And Participation In High Impact Practices Among NCAA Division I Student Athletes written by Kristin M. Reed and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to use existing data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to examine the relationship between student engagement indicators and NCAA Division I student-athletes' participation in high-impact practices, specifically internships and study abroad. Student engagement indicators were the independent variables in this study and included academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty, and campus environment. This study examined a sample of senior student-athletes enrolled at an NCAA Division I institution who completed NSSE in 2019 (N = 1,794). This study utilized descriptive, correlation, and logistic regression to answer the research questions. After controlling for student demographic characteristics, student engagement indicators predicted student-athletes' participation in internships. The variables learning with peers and experiences with faculty were statistically significant, while academic challenge and campus environment were not significant. Student engagement indicators also predicted student-athletes' participation in study abroad, with academic challenge being significant, while the other engagement indicators were not significant. The findings from this study suggest that to create an environment that fosters student-athletes' participation in internships and study abroad, institutions need to facilitate ways to increase student-athletes' engagement. The findings from this study provide insight to practitioners interested in increasing the number of students who participate in high-impact practices.
Download or read book High impact Educational Practices written by George D. Kuh and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication¿the latest report from AAC&U¿s Liberal Education and America¿s Promise (LEAP) initiative¿defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers. The report also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to these practices.
Download or read book A Comparative Study of Student Engagement Based on Intercollegiate Athletics Participation written by David Woolever and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of retention in higher education institutions is certainly a hot topic. Institutions have explored first year seminars, engagement with faculty and creating a culture of connectivity and belongingness among the student population to include extra-curricular activities in creating an engaged student that will persist until graduation. Furthermore, academic engagement among student-athletes is one topic that has that has been somewhat neglected while institutions look at ways to increase retention via creating a culture of involvement. In addition, the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI), initially designed to measure engagement among secondary students has rarely been utilized to examine academic engagement among students at the collegiate level (Grier-Reed, Appleton, Rodriguez, Ganuza & Reschly, 2012). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects that athletics participation has on the academic engagement of students as measured by the SEI. Drawing upon Albert Bandura’s (1977, 2001) social learning theory, Astin’s (1999) theory of involvement, the self-determination theory (SDT) and Tinto’s (1975) student integration model, the study explored the relationship between participation in sports and academic engagement. This research is geared toward higher education exploring persistence and retention as well as exploring further use of the SEI on a college population. Conclusions can be drawn to address retention issues plaguing universities and colleges.
Download or read book Implementing Student Athlete Programming written by Kristina M. Navarro and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Implementing Student-Athlete Programming, scholar-practitioners provide an approachable and comprehensive overview of how to design, implement, and sustain best practices in the growing area of student-athlete development. Exploring research approaches and critical frames for thinking about student-athlete programming while covering topics such as the current context, challenges, programmatic approaches to support, and trends for the future, this resource also highlights programs that are effective in supporting students to success. This book provides higher education practitioners with the tools they need to effectively work with student-athletes to not only transition to college, but to develop meaningful personal, social, career, and leadership development experiences as they prepare for the transition to life after sport.
Download or read book The Relationship Between Professional Development Engagement and Career Decision Making Self efficacy and Athletic Identity in College Students Vs College Student Athletes written by Ashley E. Janosko and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been limited research that focuses on Division III college student athletes and the career development process. Although previous researchers have studied the relationship between athletic identity and career decision making self-efficacy (CDMSE) among college student athletes, results have been inconsistent, with different researchers finding inverse, positive, or no relationships between variables. In addition, numerous researchers have examined career development among college student athletes. However, there has been no research to date that studies professional development engagement (PDE) and college student athletes. In addition, the majority of career development studies involving college student athletes have focused on either Division I or II schools. To address this gap, the current research project utilized three variables (athletic identity, CDMSE, and PDE) to try to gain an understanding of factors that may impact the career development process for traditional age college students (College Student Non-Athletes; CSNA) and college student-athletes in a Division III school. Chickering’s Identity Development Theory was used as a lens to examine identity development among the populations of interest. The researcher conducted a quantitative study at an NCAA Division III university in the northeastern region of the United States to examine the relationship between PDE and CDMSE among college student athletes (research question 1). Furthermore, this research was designed to determine if the association between PDE and CDMSE changed when controlling for athletic identity (research question 2). Lastly, the author examined this same set of variables and controls (the association between PDE and CDMSE when controlling for athletic identity) to see if there was a significant difference between college student athletes vs. CNSAs (research question 3). NCAA Division III student athletes and CSNA completed an online survey consisting of three instruments (Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, Career Decision Making Short-Form, and Professional Development Engagement Scale) and a demographic questionnaire. The results suggest that higher levels of PDE lead to higher level of CDMSE, and that higher levels of athletic identity were related to higher levels of CDMSE when controlling for PDE. Furthermore, in both the student athlete and the CNSA samples, there was no significant relationship difference in the association between PDE and CDMSE when accounting for athletic identity. Additionally, implications for research, practice, and teaching are discussed.
Download or read book The Leadership Perceptions of Collegiate Student athletes and Their Coaches written by Michael Brent Kondritz and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and difference between how NCAA Division I, team sport student-athletes perceive their own leadership behaviors and how their head coaches perceive the same student-athletes' leadership behaviors. In addition, further analysis examined perceptions between student-athletes and head coaches based on the student-athletes' gender and academic year in school. The study included 121 NCAA Division I, team sport student-athletes and their respective head coaches from two institutions in the Midwest. One of the institutions was a medium sized, four-year, co-educational private university and the second was a large sized, four-year, coeducational public university. The first research question examined the demographic profile of the collegiate student-athletes participating in this study. The second research question studied the relationship between how NCAA Division I student-athletes perceived themselves demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and their respective head coaches' perceptions of these behaviors. Using Pearson product-moment correlation, three significant relationships existed between student-athletes and their head coaches for Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and Enable Others to Act. The third research question undertook paired samples t-tests to investigate the difference between how NCAA Division I student-athletes perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. Paired samples t-tests revealed significant differences between student-athletes and head coaches for each practice, Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The fourth research question explored the difference between how NCAA Division I female and NCAA Division I male student-athletes perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. The researcher used ANOVAs and paired samples t-tests to analyze the question. ANOVAs revealed statistically significant differences for the practices of Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. Paired samples t-tests revealed statistically significant differences for both genders with all Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership. The final question studied the difference between how NCAA Division I student athletes, by academic year in school, perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. Similar to the fourth question, the researcher used ANOVAs and paired samples t-tests to analyze the data. ANOVAs revealed seven significant differences for four of the practices, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. In addition, paired samples t-tests showed differences in 18 out of a possible 20 cases involving academic year in school and The Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership. In conclusion, scores between student-athletes and coaches for Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and Enable Others to Act showed a small, positive relationship; therefore, as student-athletes' scores increased so did their head coaches' scores. ANOVAs revealed significant mean differences in scores between female student athletes and their respective head coaches to male student-athletes and their head coaches. For all five practices, paired samples t-tests showed that the difference between mean student-athletes scores and mean head coaches scores were significant and that gender was not a differentiator when comparing scores for the practices. The independent variable with the most influence was academic year in school. Six-of-the-seven significant findings revealed smaller mean differences in scores between the upper-level student-athletes and coaches compared to lower-level student-athletes and coaches. Finally, significant differences existed in 18 of 20 possible cases comparing the mean scores of student-athletes to their head coaches for the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership when examining student-athlete academic year in school.
Download or read book Making the Connection written by Eddie Comeaux and published by IAP. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making the Connection: Data-Informed Practices in Academic Support Centers for College Athletes is practical and ideal for those who seek to use research to inform their individual and organizational practices. This volume is primarily intended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, though scholars, researchers, teachers, practitioners, coaches, athletics administrators, and advocates of intercollegiate athletics will also find it useful. It comprises a series of chapters that cover a wide range of evidence-based approaches designed to enhance the practices of those who work closely with college athletes. Given the breadth of the field overall, this single volume is not exhaustive, but the current concerns, challenges, and themes of relevance to higher education researchers, practitioners, and others are well addressed. The intent of the text is to spark conversation about how college and university constituents can reframe their thinking about the importance of innovative research to careful, informed practice. Likewise, the contributors hope that it will inspire greater awareness and action among practitioners, as well as advance scholarship in the area of athletics. Each chapter includes current research, and in some cases theoretical perspectives, which should assist practitioners enhance the well-being of college athletes. Each chapter also offers guided discussion questions that are ideal for use as the basis of further conversation in the classroom setting. Adopters of this text will benefit from leading voices in the field who delve into complex issues, shedding new light and presenting unique opportunities for understanding a diversity of perspectives on evidence-based practices in support centers for athletes. In all, this volume provides a rich portrait of data-driven practices designed to assist practitioners and others who work closely with college athletes, and lays the groundwork for an ambitious and long overdue agenda to further develop innovative research that informs the practices of athletics stakeholders and improves the quality of experiences for college athletes.
Download or read book Threshold Concepts in Practice written by Ray Land and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-09 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Threshold Concepts in Practice brings together fifty researchers from sixteen countries and a wide variety of disciplines to analyse their teaching practice, and the learning experiences of their students, through the lens of the Threshold Concepts Framework. In any discipline, there are certain concepts – the ‘jewels in the curriculum’ – whose acquisition is akin to passing through a portal. Learners enter new conceptual (and often affective) territory. Previously inaccessible ways of thinking or practising come into view, without which they cannot progress, and which offer a transformed internal view of subject landscape, or even world view. These conceptual gateways are integrative, exposing the previously hidden interrelatedness of ideas, and are irreversible. However they frequently present troublesome knowledge and are often points at which students become stuck. Difficulty in understanding may leave the learner in a ‘liminal’ state of transition, a ‘betwixt and between’ space of knowing and not knowing, where understanding can approximate to a form of mimicry. Learners navigating such spaces report a sense of uncertainty, ambiguity, paradox, anxiety, even chaos. The liminal space may equally be one of awe and wonderment. Thresholds research identifies these spaces as key transformational points, crucial to the learner’s development but where they can oscillate and remain for considerable periods. These spaces require not only conceptual but ontological and discursive shifts. This volume, the fourth in a tetralogy on Threshold Concepts, discusses student experiences, and the curriculum interventions of their teachers, in a range of disciplines and professional practices including medicine, law, engineering, architecture and military education. Cover image: Detail from ‘Eve offering the apple to Adam in the Garden of Eden and the serpent’ c.1520–25. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553). Bridgeman Images. All rights reserved.
Download or read book Reclaiming the Game written by William G. Bowen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-27 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Reclaiming the Game, William Bowen and Sarah Levin disentangle the admissions and academic experiences of recruited athletes, walk-on athletes, and other students. In a field overwhelmed by reliance on anecdotes, the factual findings are striking--and sobering. Anyone seriously concerned about higher education will find it hard to wish away the evidence that athletic recruitment is problematic even at those schools that do not offer athletic scholarships. Thanks to an expansion of the College and Beyond database that resulted in the highly influential studies The Shape of the River and The Game of Life, the authors are able to analyze in great detail the backgrounds, academic qualifications, and college outcomes of athletes and their classmates at thirty-three academically selective colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships. They show that recruited athletes at these schools are as much as four times more likely to gain admission than are other applicants with similar academic credentials. The data also demonstrate that the typical recruit is substantially more likely to end up in the bottom third of the college class than is either the typical walk-on or the student who does not play college sports. Even more troubling is the dramatic evidence that recruited athletes "underperform:" they do even less well academically than predicted by their test scores and high school grades. Over the last four decades, the athletic-academic divide on elite campuses has widened substantially. This book examines the forces that have been driving this process and presents concrete proposals for reform. At its core, Reclaiming the Game is an argument for re-establishing athletics as a means of fulfilling--instead of undermining--the educational missions of our colleges and universities.
Download or read book How College Affects Students written by Matthew J. Mayhew and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 788 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling analysis of higher education's impact, updated with the latest data How College Affects Students synthesizes over 1,800 individual research investigations to provide a deeper understanding of how the undergraduate experience affects student populations. Volume 3 contains the findings accumulated between 2002 and 2013, covering diverse aspects of college impact, including cognitive and moral development, attitudes and values, psychosocial change, educational attainment, and the economic, career, and quality of life outcomes after college. Each chapter compares current findings with those of Volumes 1 and 2 (covering 1967 to 2001) and highlights the extent of agreement and disagreement in research findings over the past 45 years. The structure of each chapter allows readers to understand if and how college works and, of equal importance, for whom does it work. This book is an invaluable resource for administrators, faculty, policymakers, and student affairs practitioners, and provides key insight into the impact of their work. Higher education is under more intense scrutiny than ever before, and understanding its impact on students is critical for shaping the way forward. This book distills important research on a broad array of topics to provide a cohesive picture of student experiences and outcomes by: Reviewing a decade's worth of research; Comparing current findings with those of past decades; Examining a multifaceted analysis of higher education's impact; and Informing policy and practice with empirical evidence Amidst the current introspection and skepticism surrounding higher education, there is a massive body of research that must be synthesized to enhance understanding of college's effects. How College Affects Students compiles, organizes, and distills this information in one place, and makes it available to research and practitioner audiences; Volume 3 provides insight on the past decade, with the expert analysis characteristic of this seminal work.
Download or read book Student Success in College written by George D. Kuh and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-01-07 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Student Success in College describes policies, programs, and practices that a diverse set of institutions have used to enhance student achievement. This book clearly shows the benefits of student learning and educational effectiveness that can be realized when these conditions are present. Based on the Documenting Effective Educational Practice (DEEP) project from the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, this book provides concrete examples from twenty institutions that other colleges and universities can learn from and adapt to help create a success-oriented campus culture and learning environment.
Download or read book The Impact of Leadership Training on Collegiate Student Athletes written by Jerry Bergsma and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research is an exploratory study of the impact of leadership training on the student-athletes at an NCAA Division III member institution. Leadership education and training in athletics has seen a lack of research that could give insight into identifying attributes and actions that are associated with high-quality leadership training experiences. The purpose of this study is to identify the: (a) quality and outcomes of the Gainey Leadership Retreat training program, and (b) the attributes and impact of the Gainey program using the lens of Eich's (2008) grounded theory of high-quality student leadership programs. The study participants are 60 female student-athletes and 50 male student-athletes who attended the Gainey Leadership Retreat between 2004 and 2009. This study uses Eich's (2008) grounded theory as a framework for creating Likert-scale questions and open-ended questions in an online survey that ascertain the quality of the retreat experience as well ad the willingness/confidence to lead and the overall impression of the retreat as a leadership training tool. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVAs , and multiple regression are used to analyze the data collected. Analysis of the data indicates that:( a) Gainey Retreat participants reported a high degree of satisfaction with the learning community, experiential learning, and program development components of the retreat, (b) Gainery Retreat participants experienced an immediate impact on confidence to lead and leadership actions in the team setting, (c) Gainey Retreat participants reported a lasting impression on their willingness and confidence to lead, and (d) Gainey Retreat participants reported a highly favorable overall impression of the retreat as it related to value of the athletic experience at Calvin and the building of a strong foundation for future leadership. Overall, this study supports previous research that team building interventions are tempered by resources, time, cost, and magnitude of change; that degree of long-terrm impact varies based on the characteristics of team leader, the setting of the intervention, and the intervention's theoretical basis; and, that leadership interventions have an equal impact across gender. The findings from this study further add to the literature by providing support that leadership training in athletics had a positive impact on future leadership willingness and confidence.
Download or read book Dissertation Abstracts International written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Success Through Engagement written by Jonny Dierks and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Student-athletes competing at the Division I level face numerous distractions that could ultimately impact their levels of engagement. Focusing on student-athlete perceptions, the goal of this study was to develop foundational knowledge and a strong empirical base for a better understanding of significant issues around engagement in intercollegiate athletics. This remains important in today's society, given the magnitude of college athletics and the pressures student-athletes face consistently. The literature is divided into sections that focus on different variables related to student-athlete engagement. The study seeks to answer the following research question: Does a lack of student-athlete engagement lead to decreased student athlete-outcomes academically and athletically? Using a mixed-methods model (surveys and selected interviews) and the symbolic interaction theory, this paper will analyze relevant literature and understand the issue deeper. The study took place at a large, urban, R1 research institution in the Northeast and focused on 600+ student-athletes. This study had 60 participants, followed by seven interviews conducted. The Survey was based on the National Survey of Student Engagement. Of the survey respondents, quantitative results indicated that student-athletes at this institution were like to be female and white. All participants are varsity student-athletes and represent one of the sports at this institution. Aspects significant to student-athletes engagement were time spent practicing, traveling for competition, academic commitments, relationships with other students, faculty, and athletic administration staff, and their overall level of satisfaction with the institution they attended. These findings indicate that their levels of engagement rely heavily on their athletic and academic experiences. Further, the findings share authentic insight into their experiences through different variables that focus on institutional engagement. Implications for this study focus on further addressing what student-athletes need, addressing gender bias, enhancing student-athlete-centered programming, revising support from the athletic department, and enhancing non-athletic services tailored for student-athletes.
Download or read book Moving Beyond the Effects of Participation written by Kyle Thomas Fassett and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provided the need to improve and demonstrate student learning, administrators frequently look to strategies such as high-impact practices. These are educational activities (e.g., capstone experiences, internships, study abroad, etc.) beyond the core curriculum positively linked to student gains. While high-impact practices offer promising results, much of the existing research related student participation to outcomes without considering the experiences' depth. In this dissertation, I argued that measuring participation does not capture the complexity of high-impact practices thus, I investigated what makes a quality element of high-impact practices, what differences exist among students regarding quality, and how quality related to student perceived gains. Data from the 2019 National Survey of Student Engagement administration helped to clarify these questions. With responses from a sample of over 11,000 first-year and senior college students across 39 institutions, I used a series of structural equation models to confirm and provide validity for a quality element of high-impact practices. I then parsed out differences in quality and perceived gains by student academic and demographic characteristics. Lastly, I situated the findings in the canon of higher education and provided implications for practice as well as research.
Download or read book More Than an Athlete written by Yannick Kluch and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the recent re-emergence of the athlete activist into public consciousness, activism among athletes remains non-normative behavior. However, because sport can be a powerful platform for social change, it is important to analyze experiences of the few athletes who identify as activists for social justice causes. As the first empirical study to explore how NCAA Division I student-athletes construct activist identities, this research contributes to knowledge on athlete activism and identity construction in sport by analyzing the student-athlete activist experience through participants' definitions of activism, their constructions and negotiations of activist identities, and barriers to activism. Drawing from interviews with 31 NCAA Division I student-athlete activists from across the U.S., and informed by the communication theory of identity and cultural contracts theory, this dissertation identifies five different conceptualizations of activism: activism as doing something, championing change, being authentic, speaking up, and public protests. Findings document changing notions of athlete activism and reveal nuanced forms of situational activism that do not rely on public expressions of resistance but rather arise from specific situations in athletes' everyday lives. Regarding identity constructions, six higher order themes emerged from the data: motivations for activism, enactments of activism, student-athlete activists' identity negotiations, relational influences, communal influences, and mediated influences. Data also revealed six barriers to student-athlete activism: strict regulation of athletes' schedules and lack of time, isolation from the wider campus community, stigma attached to activist identities, emotional exhaustion, team cultural norms, and institutional barriers. Participants indicated they engaged in activism that does not explicitly challenge institutional power and, by extension, relied on the intercollegiate sport system to create change from within. Finally, this dissertation presents implications for key stakeholders in student-athlete activism in the contemporary cultural climate: student-athletes, coaches/athletic administrators, and governing bodies behind intercollegiate sport, including athletic conferences and the NCAA. By embracing the multiplicity of student-athlete activist identities, this dissertation advocates for scholars and intercollegiate athletics professionals to enhance student-athletes' power to change cultural identity scripts and anchor activism and inclusive leadership in the social description of student-athletes for generations to come.
Download or read book The Relationship Between Residency and Socio demographics to Academic Performance in NCAA Division I Freshman Athletes written by Eric Matthew Snyder and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Numerous studies have been completed on the academic ability of student athletes. Since the mid 1980s, the NCAA has emphasized the importance of academics and mandated more stringent requirements to be able to participate in intercollegiate athletics. These initial-eligibility standards have been successful in increasing overall graduation rates of student-athletes, but there remain a number of concerns. The purpose of the study was to determine if an NCAA D-I freshman student athlete's place of residency on campus, as opposed to off campus, while attending college during his/her freshman year had a statistically significant relationship to achievement as it relates to academic performance. The continued purpose of the study examined the relationship between selected socio-demographic components to academic performance in NCAA D-I freshman student athletes and how this relationship may have directly related to their academic performance during their freshman year. Participants completed the informed consent along with a questionnaire to aid in determining what academic and socio-demographic variables were related to academic performance (N = 205). Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that living on or off campus had no relationship with how the freshman student athletes performed academically. The best individual correlations with academic performance were high school GPA, gender, and ACT scores. These relationships proved to be a moderate relationship because an R value of .75 or greater was not reached. High school GPA, ethnicity, gender, absences unexcused, and ACT scores did enter a stepwise multiple regression equation, but could only explain 55% of the variance for that equation. Statistically 60% is an acceptable level for predicting academic performance in the study. However, it should be noted that 55% of the variance is relevant for those individuals who deal with the academic performance (i.e., athletic administrators, academic advisors, university faculty, parents, etc.) of student athletes to encourage the use of these variables to predict a student athlete's academic success. The other remaining variables showed only a low or very low relationship to a freshman student athlete's academic performance.
