ABSTRACT
This chapter provides ample data showing projected grade-point averages and graduation rates associated with various cut-scores. Jack McArdle's association with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began in the late 1980s when the NCAA Director of Research at the time, Ursula Walsh, reached out to John Nesselroade to identify a quantitative psychologist who could analyze data from a new study of the educational outcomes of NCAA Division one student-athletes. McArdle's analysis of data from the Academic Performance Study yielded some surprising results for NCAA policy makers. Great research met strong resistance from various NCAA policy makers who were not accustomed to trusting research data over their gut instincts. It took a number of years meeting with NCAA committees and college athletics leaders to convince them that regression analyses, utility curves, and invariance models should guide policies impacting college football and basketball teams.
