INDIANAPOLIS --- Moving swiftly to address so-called diploma mills and other questionable secondary schools, NCAA presidents and chancellors have approved several measures to strengthen the review of initial eligibility records of prospective student-athletes.

Some of the measures will take effect immediately, such as expanding the NCAA’s review of nontraditional high schools and records of high school students who make dramatic academic improvements in a short amount of time or graduate from high schools with questionable academic profiles. These reviews could include onsite visits to high schools.

Other measures, such as limiting the number of required core courses a student can take in his or her senior year to qualify for NCAA initial eligibility, will be considered through the normal NCAA legislative cycle.

The Division I Board of Directors and the Division II Presidents Council, which approved the measures Thursday, stressed that individual campus admissions offices, state government and law enforcement all play vital roles in overseeing and regulating these issues with the NCAA.

"The level of fraud is increasing,” said NCAA President Myles Brand, who has urged state attorneys general to review the issue as well. “This is a much larger civic problem than just in college athletics. We should not underestimate the severity of the problem.”

As an example of that growth, Brand noted that during a recent one-week period the NCAA Clearinghouse received applications from 40 new nontraditional high schools to include their curriculum in the process of determining student-athlete initial eligibility.

Brand formed a national working group in December 2005 to address abuses and fraud in initial eligibility for intercollegiate athletics, after concerns were raised by several college presidents and in news reports. These concerns include secondary schools that offer diplomas for simply a flat fee and no teaching and nontraditional high schools that provide little or no classroom instruction yet graduate students with top academic records.

Brand noted that meeting NCAA initial eligibility requirements in high school should not automatically lead to a student’s admission to college.

"There is a shared responsibility among the NCAA, member institutions that apply admissions standards, and state authorities who determine the legality of secondary institutions,” Brand said.

Other measures adopted by the Division I Board of Directors and Division II Presidents Council include expanding NCAA bylaws on unethical conduct to include failure to provide complete and accurate information to the NCAA or the college admissions office regarding a student’s academic record, effectively immediately; and requiring official test scores to be reported to the NCAA Clearinghouse and requiring prospective student-athletes to report to the Clearinghouse all SAT and ACT tests they have taken, effectively in August 2007.

The immediate changes in expanding NCAA review of academic records will affect student-athletes who begin college starting in Fall 2006.

"As we continue to implement our academic reform efforts, these changes will ultimately help incoming students who want to compete in intercollegiate athletics while pursuing their college education,” Brand said.

In other action Thursday, the Division I Board of Directors:

• Adopted measures to designate the second Friday in November as the start to the basketball season; allow teams to compete in a multi-team event (such as the Maui Invitational or Great Alaska Shootout) each year, rather than twice in a four-year period; and establish a 29-game season for teams that do not play in multi-team events. Participation in a qualifying event will limit the team to 27 regular-season games, plus a maximum of four additional games at those events, for a total of 31 games. Season-ending conference tournaments will not count toward the total.

• Approved a proposal to allow football teams with 6-6 won-loss records to compete in contracted bowl games, if, for example, the team’s conference has a contract with a sponsoring bowl. Additional selections are limited to winning teams until there are no more, before a 6-6 team would be permitted to be selected for the remaining slot.

• Defeated a measure to add a 12th regular season game to the Division I-AA football season and delayed elimination of I-A, I-AA and I-AAA titles until new titles are identified.

• Tabled a measure to reduce the baseball season from 56 to 52 games. Instead, the board approved a recommendation that the baseball community develop a plan over the next year to address concerns of academic performance in the sport by reviewing transfer rules, distribution of financial aid and length of season. Results of any changes that come from this plan will be reviewed by the board in three years.

• Discussed in a preliminary way academic standards that could trigger historical penalties under the NCAA’s academic reform program. Discussion also occurred regarding possible financial incentives for schools that could benefit from academic enhancement grants and rewards for high-performing teams.