Editorial: NCAA’s Online Rule Backs Student Athletes

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has thrown some public schools that offer online classes a curve ball. The ones dedicated to learning will make the necessary adjustments to catch it.

As of October, the NCAA no longer accepts online classes from charter school Southwest Secondary as well as some from Independence High in Rio Rancho and Oñate High in Las Cruces.

The change came about after critics of online courses called a foul on an APS senior who paid $200 to re-take his English class online through Southwest Secondary; he completed a semester of English in one weekend. While the state Public Education Department upheld the credit, APS has since restricted its students’ non-APS online credits to those not reasonably offered by the district.

The NCAA ruling will most likely impact APS students who have been paying Southwest Secondary for online classes to maintain athletic eligibility, for retakes of classes they did poorly in, or to graduate. It could make students ineligible to play Division I or II sports or get athletic scholarships.

Southwest Secondary director Scott Glasrud says he hopes to prove the school’s classes meet NCAA standards. That’s the right call.

In 2010 the NCAA adopted legislation setting out requirements for nontraditional coursework to help ensure student athletes aren’t just phoning it in, including that students taking online courses have ongoing access to a teacher for instruction, evaluation and other help. That means a real engaged teacher, not just a “help desk” where a teacher is on call. The NCAA also requires schools to establish a time period for course completion, including a minimum and a maximum.

These moves support the goal of ensuring that courses are rigorous enough to prepare high school student athletes to be college students. It makes sense. Southwest Secondary and other affected schools should step up their games as needed to comply.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.