INDIANAPOLIS
The NCAA will no longer accept transcripts from 15 nontraditional high schools, including one in Florida with a Web site that promises students an opportunity to earn a diploma in weeks.
Others include an institution in Maine that offers home schooling and three in Pennsylvania, including one whose charter was revoked by the state three years ago.
Other schools are still being investigated and could face similar sanctions by the NCAA in an attempt to deal with so-called “diploma mills” whose graduates seek athletic scholarships to college. An NCAA spokesman said recently that some cases involved abuse and even fraud in academic standards.
Goliath Academy, which offers correspondence and online courses, was among four Florida schools identified with questionable academic credentials by the NCAA initial-eligibility clearinghouse.
The NCAA board of directors in April gave the association authority to look into the schools’ standards, including the examination of individual transcripts. The investigation was accelerated after a New York Times story on University High School, a Miami correspondence school that had no classes or instructors and operated almost without supervision.
A telephone number for University has been disconnected, as has one for American Academy of Miami, which is also on the NCAA list.
