Defining Risk and the Use of Risk Assessments by Learning Specialists within NCAA Academic Units

Abstract

The National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA (2009) defines the term “risk” as a “student-athlete’s likelihood of graduation”. The ability of athletic departments and athletic academic professionals to identify which of their student-athletes might be considered at risk is less straightforward. While many departments use their own tools to assess risk, there has been little research on the subject. This exploratory study sought to generate a collective understanding of how athletic academic units across the country define the term “at-risk” and assess which of their student-athletes are at-risk in order to begin creating a framework for use across the industry. A survey was completed by 43 member of the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A) who serve in learning specialist roles, within athletic academic units. The results showed that academic units, across NCAA institutions, do not have one clear definition of risk, but rather the definition falls into four distinct categories. The study also found that there are three initial risk assessments used most frequently to determine student-athletes’ risk upon arrival at the institution, while the continued risk assessments fall into six distinct categories of assessments. As this is an exploratory study, the researchers acknowledge that we are only scratching the surface in regards to the breadth` and depth of assessment usage to determine risk of student-athletes at NCAA institutions. Therefore, the implications for future research are discussed.
 
 
 Keywords: Risk, assessment, initial assessment, continued assessment