The Maine DOE is offering guidance to Maine schools related to the expectations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for courses.
The NCAA has outlined specific expectations regarding acceptance of courses for purposes of student eligibility. In some instances the NCAA has not accepted some high school course offerings as academically rigorous enough, often due to the course titles.
The Maine DOE advises high schools to make course titles clear and directly related to the content and intended rigor. In cases where a school uses course titles such as Math 1, 2, 3 and 4, the school should also include explanations of the courses (for example, the Math 1-4 sequence covers the academic content usually seen in the Algebra I, geometry and Algebra II sequence). In addition, schools that have chosen to use a 1-4 course grade system will need to translate these grades into some sort of letter grade system for purposes of NCAA student approval.
Schools that are not yet NCAA approved are advised to seek approval in advance of any need that may arise for individual students.
For additional information or technical assistance, please contact Maine DOE’s Diana Doiron at Diana.doiron@maine.gov or David Ruff at the Great Schools Partnership at druff@greatschoolspartnership.org.