NCAA Mulls Changes in Process of Certification
Thursday, February 16, 2006; Page E01
All but admitting that it is unable to police the growing number of fraudulent prep schools, the NCAA is considering ways to change how those schools are certified and warned student-athletes yesterday to avoid so-called diploma mills.
The more than 5,000 private high schools that fall outside the regulations of state education boards would be closer examined under recommendations made by a 23-member committee formed in December, chairman Kevin Lennon, the NCAA vice president for membership services, said yesterday.
About This Series
During the year, The Washington Post will examine youth basketball in the United States. The lure of multimillion dollar contracts and the growth of college basketball have raised the stakes for young players, their parents, coaches and backers. Along the way, the nature of the game has been altered for thousands of kids.
THE PLAYER CHASEDecember 31: After a six-month investigation, The Washington Post has found that it is now common for college programs to make tax-deductible donations, usually through a booster, to AAU programs in an effort to land recruits.
July 14: Kene Obi still waits for clearance to play his first high school basketball game.
 July 6: Renardo Sidney has developed into a blue-chip recruit despite never having played in a high school basketball game.
 July 4: Being one of the country's best 10-year-old basketball players used to be worth a shelf-full of plastic trophies. Not anymore. Just ask Justin Jenifer.
Photos: Banking on a Prodigy
Video: Justin's Got Game
March 26: Jericho Christian Academy seeks a higher profile by using the lure of basketball, but it is a path that often comes at a price.
March 12: Stoneridge Preparatory School demonstrates how entire prep basketball squads are increasingly transferring together.
 March 5: The NCAA Clearinghouse certifies player's transcripts and grades without doing background checks on the validity of those documents.
THE PLAYER CHASE: THE EUROPEAN MODEL
To better understand the demise of U.S. basketball, reporter Michael Lee went to three countries whose teams have beaten the Americans to examine their player development system.
Dec. 18: Youth players who compete for Serbian club teams face unique economic and social pressures.
 Dec. 17: The European system for developing world-class basketball players can be a model for the U.S.
Graphic: Three basketball powers.
LIVE ONLINEThe Post's Eli Saslow was online to discuss Nigerian basketball players. Read the transcript.
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"Many and most of the nontraditional high schools do have integrity and do provide a quality education," Lennon said. "But it is clear that some do not. The committee recognizes that these are real problems. We know the abuses are going on as we speak, and I think there's a great sense of urgency among all of the members of the committee to take on these issues as quickly as possible."
Reports in the New York Times last December and The Washington Post on Sunday detailed how football and basketball players were able to become eligible to play intercollegiate sports by improving their grades at prep schools with questionable academic programs.
Lennon said three schools have already been decertified; one of them is University High of Miami, the subject of the Times report. The Times reported that the school had no classes or instructors and catered to football players. It has reportedly closed. Lennon said he did not know the names of the other two schools.
The Post reported Sunday that Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia, which has produced more than a dozen Division I basketball players, including one each at Georgetown and George Washington, has no building and operates in two rooms of a community center. A former student and his mother told The Post that the North Philadelphia school doesn't use traditional textbooks and has only one teacher -- basketball coach Darryl Schofield, a former Philadelphia sanitation worker.
A spokesman said the NCAA Clearinghouse will look into the allegations against Lutheran Christian.
In 1993, the NCAA formed its Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse and hired ACT Inc., the Iowa-based national testing company, to operate it. Lennon said the NCAA asks high schools that want the NCAA Clearinghouse to approve their courses for eligibility purposes a series of questions about curriculum and the instruction the schools provide. But the NCAA does not typically visit schools before certifying their classes as fulfilling requirements for eligibility to play college sports.
"We have relied more on the integrity of the information from the high school principal," Lennon said. "But I think it has become clear over our review of this particular issue that additional scrutiny is going to be necessary. We're going to begin that by basically asking more questions of those schools that we have identified where we need more information. It's possible at the end of the day that those visits could become just a routine part of the evaluation process."
Lutheran Christian registered as a religious school with the Pennsylvania Department of Education on Sept. 1, 2003. Pennsylvania requires schools to submit a notarized affidavit in which the school agrees that students will fulfill the compulsory attendance laws (180 days) and that the school will use mandated academic guidelines.
The most recent Lutheran Christian affidavit (submitted for 2003-04), was obtained by The Post on Monday. It states that the school provided instruction in at least a dozen classes and had the equivalent of nine full-time teachers. It also attested that the school was operated by a "bona fide church or other religious body."
Schofield told The Post last week that the school had one full-time teacher (himself) and four-part time instructors and said the school was not affiliated with a church. Among the classes the school stated that it offered was chemistry, but the community center where the school is held does not have a lab; students meet in a banquet hall, according to an employee of the community center.
