County to complete study on student-athlete grades | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The notion that high school students who participate in athletics fare better in the classroom during the season rather than out of the season is about to be put to the test.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools researchers will be completing a study this summer using the School Administration Student Information System (SASI) software to compare in-season and out-of-season grades for student-athletes.

"I've always held that a very active student tends to be a student that finds success in more things," said Greg LeGrand, county coordinator of athletics. "I'd like to have our own school data to find if that's true or not true."

The consensus among athletics administrators is that the study will show that student-athlete grades excel in-season, because of motivation to remain eligible, among other reasons.

"The study is going to reveal what most coaches and ADs know already," said Northeast athletic director Marianne Shultz. "Athletics keeps grades up. When you have that extra purpose, the grades have a tendency to be up for the entire year. (Student-athletes) can see an ends to the means of getting good grades."

If the study reveals that grades are down in-season, it can still be a useful tool in helping coaches and administrators rectify the problem.

"We're always looking to better how we help the kids, and if it does show a negative situation where the grades aren't where they should be, then as a school system we need to find ways to make it better," Shultz said.

The results of the study may also help determine future courses of action to help student-athletes maintain academic success after the conclusion of a sports season.

"We know from other research that students that are involved in extra-curricular activities have a number of positive benefits," said LeGrand, who cited a 1995 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study and a separate National Federation study titled, "Making the case for high school athletics."

"This is going to give us new information to help steer us towards interventions. It might help us better prioritize areas we can work on and reaffirm the things we're doing well."

The SASI software is a computer program widely used by schools around the country that houses data such as attendance and grades.

Prior to this study, the county had never used the software to look at a specific demographic.

In order to compile the data, researchers will put the names of student-athletes from all schools and all sports into student groups in the SASI software, though LeGrand said that exactly how the groups will be entered is still being determined.

Because the data could be entered into different groups such as school, age, race, sport and gender, among others, LeGrand wants to ensure that the groups being studied and compared will yield statistically significant results.

"We just want to make sure we're comparing apples to apples," said LeGrand, who proposed the study to the Anne Arundel County Board of Education late last summer. "We're trying to get it to where we have something significant."

One point that the study could affirm is the county's academic probation period for student-athletes who have two 'E's or a grade-point average below 2.0.

Student-athletes under probation can practice with their respective teams, but they cannot play in games for 16 days. They also must attend extra study halls and go through other lengths to get their grades up.

"A lot of times they bite down hard to really get themselves corrected," LeGrand said. "You put a couple good weeks together, and all of a sudden maintaining (good grades) isn't so hard."

Another point may focus on freshmen, who may find it hard to adapt to their new school setting.

"One of the things I'm real interested in is ninth graders," LeGrand said. "It seems to be the hardest year, because it's such a climate change. It's a big adjustment for kids that come from middle school."

Freshman that play fall sports begin practicing weeks before the academic year begins. They are able to get to know the school grounds, coaches and teammates a bit ahead of schedule.

"I'd like to see if any of those kinds of things translate into them not having a difficult acclimation period," LeGrand said.

LeGrand said that the study will begin once all fourth-quarter grades are entered into the SASI software, and it will be focused on a county-wide scale and not on specific schools or teams.

A report should be completed by the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.