Improving Academic Success of the College Student Athlete with an Emphasis on Organizational Skills
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2017-05-12
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Masters of Education
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Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to determine whether using a priority management system with the support of a coach could improve the organizational skills of college student athletes and thus improve their academic achievement. The study utilized a one group, pre-test-post-test design. Changes in the grades of the participants were measured by comparing their grade point average (GPA) for the semester before the study with the mean grades they earned during the intervention. The study included eight Division III men’s college basketball players, all in their second semester at the institution, five of whom were freshmen, two of whom were juniors and one sophomore. There were six African-American and two Caucasian participants and they ranged from 18 to 21 years of age. The null hypothesis, that the student athletes’ grades when using the priority management organizational system with support of their coach would not differ significantly from their grades the prior semester, was rejected as the mean GPAs during the study were higher than those earned during the semester before the study was conducted. Grades and survey results suggested there were academic benefits from using the organizational tools and coach monitoring provided to ensure student athletes managed their schedule demands. Future studies could build on these findings by including controls to determine what particular supports are most effective across sports seasons and academic content areas.