The NCHSAA Board of Directors has once again addressed a situation for student-athletes whose eligibility may be impacted by certain EOC assessments.
Scores from the fall 2006 administration of the English I, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II end-of-course assessments will not be released until the standards for the tests have been set. The standard setting process is scheduled to take place in January. As a result, there will be a delay in releasing the scores.
According to the Department of Public Instruction, students assessed on the English I, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II during fall 2006 should be assigned incompletes until the scores are available. This does mean that, in certain situations, a student-athlete’s eligibility could be affected.
The NCHSAA will allow students affected by this delay to continue participating in school athletics if they meet all other eligibility requirements. Once the scores are released by DPI, each member school must take action on the affected student’s eligibility.
Action must be taken for eligibility at the NCHSAA member school the day following the release of the scores. This does not apply to incomplete grades for any other reason. The only student-athletes this might impact are those that need this particular course to maintain their eligibility.
Students who are already ineligible for first semester remain ineligible unless (a) their eligibility is restored by their grades after first semester is completed or (b) at such time the EOC assessments are complete and with those grades they meet the academic requirements. Because they have been ineligible, they would not be able to play in the interim until their grades are finalized.
In addition, please note that State Board of Education policy is making an exception for seniors in terms of scores from these assessments. Schools do not need to use the EOC assessments in English I, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II to calculate the final grades of seniors. Therefore, there would be no reason to assign any seniors in this situation incompletes and their status should be unaffected by the delay in scores.
We hope this clarification is helpful.
