An evaluation of the academic advisor for athletes at Ball State University by the student-athletes

Abstract

Intercollegiate athletics have developed a stigma of taking advantage of the student-athlete. Poor study skills, extensive remediation, and poor graduation rates have been publicized for years as the cost for recruiting athletes who can compete in the highly visible market of collegiate sport. Academic advisors, exclusively for athletes, have been asked to help improve the performance of student-athletes in the classroom and on graduation day.Studies show that inadequate academic advising is the principal cause for attrition among college students. Frequent and meaningful meetings between the advisor and the student have proven to increase retention. This must be the task of the academic advisor to college athletes.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the academic advisor for intercollegiate athletes at Ball State University through the opinion of the student-athlete advisees. The advisor was evaluated on the basis of socio-emotional skills, knowledge, meeting dynamics, and problems.Ball State University graduates student-athletes with consistency at a ratio which is rated in the top 1 % in North America. This study provided a ratio which is rated in the top 1 % in North America. This study provided a foundation for evaluating the effectiveness of the services provided to student-athletes, and aided in the development of a model for effective academic advising for intercollegiate athletes.Fifty male student-athletes and fifty female student-athletes completed a fifty question evaluation of their advisor. Data from the evaluation was broken down to analyze the primary factors of socio-emotional skill, meeting dynamics, knowledge, and problems. The secondary factors of academic care, personal care, and good person were analyzed. A principal component factor analysis were executed to determine the reliability of the primary and secondary factor breakdowns. Internal reliability analysis using Chronbach's alpha measured the consistency of the scales for mean, alpha and overall effectiveness. A correlation matrix was developed to discover to what degree the primary and secondary factors were intercorrelated.