Parents of homeschooled high schoolers who are interested in playing sports in college have many questions about eligibility, transcripts, credits and Core Credit Worksheets. There are quite a few steps that homeschool parents need to complete correctly for their student to be deemed eligible for NCAA participation.
Every year the NCAA Eligibility Center releases a Home School ToolKit that explains the NCAA homeschool requirements. The NCAA defines a homeschool student in general as a student whose parent/guardian creates the curriculum, provides instruction, assesses the coursework, and/or awards grades and credits. Being schooled at home does not necessarily mean being a homeschooled student. The NCAA ToolKit can guide you with some situations that will help you determine if your student is homeschooled or schooled at home.
Once you determine that your student is a homeschooled student according to the NCAA, the first step is to register your student with the NCAA at eligibilitycenter.org. Registration should ideally occur before the freshman year of high school but can occur later as needed. The NCAA ToolKit has guidance on this registration process.
After your student has completed their first six semesters of coursework, student records should be submitted. The final year coursework is submitted after the student completes the last two semesters of high school. You can also submit student records at the end of each academic year after coursework is completed for that year. If you choose to do this option, an updated home school transcript and Core Course Worksheets should be submitted at the end of each academic year. The NCAA prefers email for document submission and the current address is ec-processing@ncaa.org. Any changes will be explained in the yearly ToolKit.
The two main documents that NCAA requires are homeschool transcripts and Core Course Worksheets. They also require an Administrator and Accordance Statement signed by the parent or guardian. The requirements for the transcript include ninth grade start date, course titles, grade achieved, units of credit for each course, grading scale, signature of homeschool administrator, academic year in which the course was taken, graduation date and full name and address of student.
The NCAA ToolKit provides answers to common questions and sample transcripts for more guidance. I recommend that parents spend some time familiarizing themselves with all of the requirements and guidelines to ensure that all of the NCAA rules are expressly followed so that your student’s eligibility is accurately assessed.
There are many unique situations surrounding dual credit, umbrella school classes, co-ops and various other ways that homeschoolers can access classes and you need to be sure that you are accurately providing course information so that your student does not get rejected due to confusion over homeschool courses. In the same vein, many prepackaged homeschool curriculums are routinely submitted by homeschoolers and are commonly approved yet other less well-known curriculums could receive more scrutiny. It is a good idea to brainstorm with other homeschool parents in your area or online who have submitted Core Course Worksheets for your chosen curriculum or before choosing a curriculum for your high schooler.
Parents generally have the most questions about the Core Course Worksheets. A core course is considered a four-year college preparatory course in the subject areas of English, math (Algebra I and higher), science, social science, world language, comparative religion, or philosophy. A Core Course Worksheet must be submitted for all of these courses taught through a home school and only the NCAA Eligibility Center provided Core Course Worksheets will be accepted. A course that does not fall under the core courses as outlined above does not need a Core Course Worksheet completed.
The NCAA ToolKit offers the following guidance on completing the Core Course Worksheets:
Course Name – title of the course should be the same as the title on the transcript
Grade Level – should reflect the grade in which the student took the course
Selected Area for Graduation Credit – the academic area in which the course receives credit for graduation, ie English, Math, Science
Teacher of Record – the person who plans and delivers the actual instruction
Other Teacher – if the teaching duties are shared
Pre-Requisites – List any courses that must be successfully completed before taking this course
Texts Used – List all instructional materials used or a summary of materials used
Curriculum Provider/Designer – If the homeschool teacher used a predesigned or prepackaged curriculum
Course Description – Brief paragraph that outlines the general goals and content of the course
Course Content/Goals/Outline – a bulleted list of the key content standards or topics studied
Types of Assessments Used – List the method of assessment such as tests, quizzes, writing assignments, projects, presentations….
Assessments Designed By – This will depend on if the curriculum is pre-packaged or created by the parent
Assessments Graded By – the person responsible for grading assignments
Grades Based On – a brief explanation regarding how the student’s grades were calculated
Grade Achieved – list the final grade the student achieved
Credit Awarded – list the credit the student was awarded
The Eligibility Center will evaluate homeschool coursework only after 1) all required documents have been received and 2) an evaluation for the student has been requested by an NCAA school. You can monitor all of the progress on the NCAA Eligibility Center dashboard for your student. Once your student is labeled a Final Qualifier and receives the Amateurism Certificate, you can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy watching your student compete in their chosen sport on the collegiate level.
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