By Kirby Whitacre & Chris Matthys

Kirby Whitacre is Director of Athletics for the South Bend (Ind.) Community School Corporation, which includes four high schools and 10 intermediate centers. A former football, basketball, and tennis coach, Chris Matthys is currently the Athletic/Academic Coordinator and a biology teacher at Washington High School in South Bend. They can be reached at: kwhitacre@sbcsc.k12.in.us and cmatthys@sbcsc.k12.in.us.

It all began innocently enough. A pair of our high school football players were selling coupon cards for a team fundraiser when they approached the home of former Notre Dame men's basketball coach and current ESPN analyst Digger Phelps.

As the three engaged in small talk, the topic of the students' grades came up. One of the athletes revealed that he had mostly C's and D's. Coach Phelps was astounded the young man was eligible to play football with a GPA that was clearly below a 2.0. He told them that 2.0 was the standard his athletes had to meet when he coached.

Soon after, Coach Phelps was in front of our school board, making an enthusiastic plea to set higher academic standards for student-athletes in the South Bend (Ind.) Community School Corporation. The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) requires that student-athletes pass at least 70 percent of their classes, but he argued that bar was too low. He urged the board to consider a 2.0 minimum GPA standard.

Without question, our school district needed to improve grades, graduation rates, and matriculation to post secondary education. However, singling out athletes as the focus for this effort did not make sense to us in the athletic department for one clear reason: Athletes already had a higher average GPA than students who did not participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities. In fact, the difference was about two-thirds of a point.

On the other hand, athletes are the "attention getters" and to some extent the standard bearers of any school district. Additionally, many people felt that extra curricular activities are a privilege, and in order to partake in them, students should be held to a higher standard.

We found ourselves in the middle of a discussion many other high school athletic departments are having. Should academic standards be raised for student-athletes at the high school level? And if so, how do you incorporate such standards in a way that encourages achievement and does not reduce participation?

A GOOD IDEA?
With the school board leaning heavily toward following Coach Phelps' suggestion, the athletic department started researching the topic. Looking mainly at higher standards implemented in Texas and Indianapolis, we found no proof that the practice had ever improved graduation rates or matriculation to post secondary education for school districts as a whole. And there was considerable literature suggesting that higher academic standards for athletes was discriminatory toward minorities and could be detrimental to those groups.

We learned that when Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) adopted a similar requirement about seven years earlier, 15 percent of its athletes became ineligible after the first grading period. IPS is the largest school corporation in the state, and we are the fourth largest. Both systems have a large percentage of minority students and a high rate of poverty.

However, the Indianapolis students did grow accustomed to the higher requirement over the years, and far fewer athletes now become ineligible. Although IPS administrators did not have hard data, they estimated that current ineligibility rates run at about eight percent (or lower). This seemed to indicate that students can rise to new expectations.

We were most concerned that we might be "throwing some kids away," so to speak. We feared that student-athletes who struggled academically and lost the privilege to be on a sports team would have no incentive to go to class and then be more apt to drop out of school altogether.

With all this in mind, we cautioned the school board about the negative consequences of higher standards, especially if it made a drastic move from the IHSAA policy to a 2.0 minimum GPA. We also proposed adding a support system for our athletes, arguing that it would be unfair to ask students to increase their academic standing without offering extra help.

After much debate surrounding a variety of ways to implement higher GPA standards for athletic eligibility, we came to an agreement. Rather than suddenly drop a higher GPA policy into place, it would be eased in gradually. We also agreed to implement a study support program, the ICU (Intellectual Care Unit), borrowing the name from a similar program at a high school in Virginia.

The final policy put into place states that athletic eligibility will be governed by the IHSAA standard during this first year (2009-10), but certain student-athletes are required to attend ICU. This includes:

• any athlete with a GPA lower than 2.0
• all incoming freshman athletes until the first grade reports are issued.

Athletes who fail to show up for required ICU sessions are suspended from practice and competition until they make up the missed time.

The ICU program is also open to any student wishing to take advantage of it, regardless of involvement in athletics or other extracurricular activities. This was important, because, after all, we are educators, and the end goal is the education of all students. We would not turn away anyone who wanted the academic support provided.

To maintain eligibility in the second year of the plan, student-athletes will need a GPA of 1.85 or greater in addition to meeting the IHSAA's 70 percent passing rate. In the third year, the GPA minimum standard will be bumped to a 2.0.

STUDY TIME
For this new policy to work, we knew the ICU would be key. We also knew we had a great opportunity to help kids reach new academic heights. Therefore, our goal was for the ICU to not just be a study hall, but to be far-reaching in scope. We wanted to provide tutoring, SAT prep, reading remediation, help with the college application process, study skills instruction, and even some counseling.

We envisioned the program covering two hours per day, three days a week, manned by athletic/academic coordinators in each of our four high schools. The responsibilities of the coordinator would include monitoring grades, communicating with athletes and coaches about subject areas that an athlete is deficient in, and talking with teachers as needed. Coordinators would also be expected to find tutors for their school's program. Overall, with a few exceptions, there was enthusiasm for the program from teachers and coaches.

Our first hurdle was funding coordinator stipends. We wanted to make the positions directly related to athletics, so we decided to combine them with event management duties. We took $5,000 of event manager money from each school and put it toward the ICU coordinator funds, while adding assistance with game management to the job description. Along with helping to fund the ICU program, we felt this idea would provide a connection between academic tutoring and athletic operations as a whole.

We combined the $20,000 from our event manager money with a $20,000 grant that we obtained from our local educational foundation. This gave us the $40,000 we needed to pay for ICU coordinators at each high school. We were also able to secure $1,000 to help fund supplies for the program from AM General (makers of the Humvee), which has its headquarters and assembly plants in the South Bend area.

In hiring, we were fortunate to attract individuals with experience in athletics who were also skilled and respected teachers. Two had been head coaches, one an assistant coach, and the other a frequent helper at athletic events. We were extremely pleased with their combination of academic and athletic credentials.

Our original plan was to tap several different sources for additional tutoring. This included National Honor Society students, student council members, volunteer teachers and counselors, retired teachers, college students, and community members from service clubs and volunteer groups. (We arranged to have limited criminal history checks for these people.)

The reality is that it has been difficult to get volunteer tutors to consistently show up for the program, despite a lot of recruiting. We do have some college students helping at two of our four high schools, but most teachers wanted compensation for assisting with the program and we did not have money available for that.

Even without as many tutors as we'd like, we have learned what are the most important components of a successful after-school study support program. First, it's critical that as many students attend as possible. Along with mandatory attendance by freshmen and struggling students, some of our coaches require attendance by the whole team. This has been a great way to make sure all student-athletes are getting in some homework time before practice, and it allows honor roll student-athletes to serve as role models for others. When the whole team is at ICU, it become less of punishment and more of an opportunity for everyone to work on their academics together.

The second component is having adults in the room who are well versed in teaching and learning styles. All of our coordinators are very experienced teachers, and we have a few tutors in key areas such as foreign language and chemistry. We also partnered students in a peer tutoring program that offered remedial learning.

In addition, we leaned it was important to have well-defined rules and consequences for violations, buy-in from the coaching staff, community support, and adequate facility access. Finally, we found student-athletes responded well to special programs that tied into future personal goals, such as college planning, SAT prep, and NCAA Clearinghouse registration.

IS IT WORKING?
Unfortunately, not every coach has embraced the new program. Some especially did not like that ICU required flexibility in scheduling team practices. However, the reality of more stringent standards in upcoming years is definitely on the coaches' minds, and generally speaking, they have gotten on board.

What do the kids think of having to attend ICU? Over 90 percent of the student-athletes we surveyed expressed the same thought: "We don't like having to be here, but we are glad that we have a place to get our homework completed. When we go home after practice and are tired, we might or might not do our homework--and probably not all of it."

Students have been held out of practices and games due to not attending ICU, and in all of those cases, the students got back on track and regained eligibility. We've also seen grades improve from the mid-marking report to the end-of-quarter official grades among students in ICU. Because of the many variables in a school, it is not possible to say that ICU was the reason, but we do know that hundreds of students have attended ICU and taken the opportunity to do homework, catch up on studying, or get help with a subject.

What we are trying to do, ultimately, is change the culture surrounding expectations of athletes as students. Changing a culture, of course, takes time, but we feel we have begun the process. The penalties for failure to attend ICU have been a big help.

An additional culture change centers on our in loco parentis role. Some student-athletes spend more time with their coaches than their parents, and we need to recognize our moral obligation to ensure that children in our care as athletes also grow as students. This program makes sure academic success for student-athletes is on our minds every day.

We are compiling data on the impact of the program on GPA, graduation rate among athletes, and college or post secondary education plans. But it is too early to know if our program is working in this regard.

One thing we do know, though, is that more homework is getting done. And if homework gets done, grades tend to improve.

GOING FORWARD
Midway through the first year of the program, we are most concerned with continuing to cover the expenses related to the ICU. Our district faces a 3.5 percent cut in state funding for 2010-11, so it is unclear whether the $40,000 for coordinator salaries will make it through budget cuts. We have also come to realize that additional money is needed to truly reach our goals of having the ICU fully staffed with tutors and offering in-depth special programs.

In response, our district applied for a 21st Century Learning Center grant, of which we were awarded $200,000. Not all of the money will go to ICU and it can only be used at two of our high schools (that currently have some state sanctions), but it will greatly help us expand those two programs without tapping district funds. We are considering funding more teachers, a site coordinator, a guidance counselor, transportation home for kids staying late, paid tutors, and enrichment activities for both student-athletes and parents.

At the other two high schools, we may have to devise new solutions. Some options include securing outside contributions or placing grade monitoring and study table responsibilities on individual sport coaches.

But, with or without additional funding, we know our future success hinges on consistent support from the coaches and the community. We also believe that, with the right commitment from the right people, the rewards of shifting a culture are well worth the efforts.

Sidebar: IN THE LONG RUN
While South Bend is just starting to implement a 2.0 GPA minimum for student-athletes, Norfolk (Va.) Public Schools has had the policy in place for over a decade. Director of Athletics Joel Wagner believes the idea has been a success and even become part of the district's identity.

"It's been exceptional," says Wagner. "I was on the front line, so I saw kids who were just meeting the minimum state requirements of passing five classes. Now the grade point average of athletes is higher than that of the non-athlete students."

The policy was phased in over three semesters. In fall 1998, student-athletes were required to hold a 1.3 GPA, which rose to 1.65 for the spring semester and 2.0 the following fall. The 2.0 rule also applies to middle school student-athletes.

Each of Norfolk's six high schools has an academic advisor who communicates frequently with teachers and coaches and evaluates each student-athlete's progress reports. If an athlete falls below a 2.0, he or she must attend study hall after school and before practice, which is monitored by the academic advisor and coaches (and is open to all athletes). The advisor can also require students whose grades have fallen to attend study hall, even if their GPA is above 2.0.

"For example, if a kid goes from a 2.7 to a 2.3, he has to jump into study hall," says Wagner. "But it depends on the situation. Going from a B to a C+ in chemistry is different than going from a B to a C+ in basic reading."

Juniors and seniors who fall under a 2.0 can use a waiver to exempt themselves from the rule for one semester. And students transferring from other high schools have nine weeks before the policy applies to them. Last year, the district also adopted an exemption for freshmen, giving them one year before having to maintain a 2.0 to participate in sports.

"Coming to a larger school environment, sometimes they need that semester to get a foothold," says Wagner. "What's astounding is that there only have been a few kids who needed the exemption."

Wagner believes the 2.0 rule has been successful largely because the district didn't simply announce it and walk away. "At each school, the principal, the athletic director, coaches, and the academic advisor are all monitoring what is happening academically," he says. "The study hall has also been essential. The emphasis is on academics first for all of our kids."

-- Kyle Garratt