Date of Award

Summer 2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Foundations & Leadership

Program/Concentration

Higher Education

Committee Director

Gwendolyn Lee-Thomas

Committee Director

Dennis Gregory

Committee Member

Ginger Watson

Abstract

This study examined the difference that participation or nonparticipation in the academic excellence commitment area of the NCAA CHAMPS/Life Skills program had on the academic progress and graduation success of Division I-FBS football teams.

A quantitative non-experimental study was conducted on a primary population of 116 Division I-FBS football teams and a secondary population of all athletes at these institutions. The football teams were examined by conference participation and nonparticipation subgroups from 11 of the 12 Division I-FBS conferences, by football teams, and by African-American and Caucasian football player ethnic groups. GSR data for the football teams and all athletes were collected from the 2008 Federal Graduation Reports (FGR) on the NCAA website. APR data for the football teams were collected from the 2008 APR reports on the NCAA website. An independent samples t test was used to analyze the difference between participation and nonparticipation conference subgroups and football teams and their GSRs and football teams and their APRs. A 2 x 2 ANOVA was conducted to analyze the difference between African-American and Caucasian participation and nonparticipation groups and their GSRs. A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the difference between all athlete participation and nonparticipation groups and their GSRs.

The hypothesized significant difference in higher graduation success, as measured by the GSR, between conference subgroups, football teams, African-American and Caucasian ethnic groups and all athletes who had actively participated in the academic excellence commitment area of the CHAMPS program and those who did not participate in the academic excellence commitment area was not supported. Analysis of the t test for conference subgroups showed no statistically significant difference between participation or nonparticipation and the graduation success of these groups, as measured by the GSR. Analysis of the t tests for football teams suggested no statistically significant difference between participation and nonparticipation and their graduation success or academic progress, as measured by the GSR and APR, respectively. Analysis of the 2 x 2 ANOVA for African-American and Caucasian football player ethnic groups suggested no statistically significant difference between participation or nonparticipation and the graduation success of these groups, as measured by the GSR. However, the 2 X 2 ANOVA for African-American and Caucasian football player ethnic groups did support the findings of previous research that showed statistically significant gaps between the graduation success of African-American and Caucasian football players. Examination of all athletes at these institutions using one-way ANOVA suggests no statistically significant difference between participation and nonparticipation and their graduation success, as measured by the GSR.

Additional findings based on the GSR of all athletes without football players show no statistically significant difference between participation and nonparticipation or between the all athlete group with football players and the all athlete group without football players.

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DOI

10.25777/z0s0-ys37

ISBN

9781109368840

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