Description
Research indicates that community college student-athletes need to study and compete at institutions that offer programs that align with student-athletes' talents and needs. A lack of such alignment has been associated with negative outcomes for student-athletes as well as institutions (Lawrence, Mullin, & Horton, 2009). This goal of this program evaluation of the Athletic Academic Support Office (AASO) at County College was to furnish findings that would enable the AASO to operate in the most efficient manner possible, given available resources. This study employed three investigative strategies. First, a discrepancy analysis (Fox, 2011) was conducted to compare the current AASO structure and function to a set of nationally prescribed standards. Next, a series of interviews with stakeholders was conducted to assess their perceptions of the AASO and its ability to meet the needs of County College's student-athletes. The third strategy involved an examination of the statistical association between three sets of variables; (1) student-athlete characteristics, (2) their responses to a survey designed to assess the adequacy and quality of the support they and (3) indicators of their academic success, including; GPA, retention rate, units attempted and units completed. The findings of this study included recommended resources and experiences needed to ensure success among student-athletes of diverse backgrounds at County College. Findings included recommended strategies to effectively meet the needs of student-athletes prior to entering universities. Data collection tools and analysis methods employed in this study may be implemented by the AASO to monitor its progress towards meeting recommended and prescribed national standards.
