Are credits earned through CDM accepted by organizations such as NCHSAA, NCCCS, UNC-GA, and NCAA?

It depends. 

NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (NCHSAA)
According to the NCHSAA, students’ primary consideration with respect to earning credit by demonstrated mastery is maintaining eligibility if they are participating or wish to participate in high school athletics. According to Association by-laws, students must ensure they are enrolled in a number of courses that is at least equal to one less than the maximum number of courses available per the high school schedule. For instance, students in a high school on a block schedule must be enrolled in at least three courses of a possible four. For schools on a seven-course schedule, students must be enrolled in at least six courses. 

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (NCAA)
According to the NCAA, students’ primary consideration with respect to earning credit by demonstrated mastery is maintaining eligibility if they wish to participate in NCAA athletics. Please note that because North Carolina’s current CDM procedure does not assign a final letter grade, CDM courses would not be used in the initial-eligibility process. Students would still be required to satisfy NCAA division-specific core course distribution requirements. More information about establishing initial eligibility may be found at the NCAA Eligibility Center website.

NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEM
Two primary considerations exist for high school students planning to attend a North Carolina community college – acceptance of the high school diploma and articulation of credit earned while in high school.

Community colleges in North Carolina have traditionally accepted the State Board of Education’s authority to determine how students earn high school credit toward graduation and the credit by demonstrated mastery policy does not change that. Students with a diploma from a North Carolina high school will be recognized as high school graduates regardless of the presence of academic or career-technical credits earned via the CDM policy, thus ensuring students’ ability to enroll in a community college following graduation.

Like many colleges and universities, North Carolina community colleges offer “credit for prior learning,” either according to the high school-community college articulation agreement for CTE courses or through local college decisions to award credit for academic courses. The North Carolina Community College System Office has not established system-wide policies regarding credit for prior learning; final decisions are left to local college administrators. As such, students should anticipate that decisions regarding credit for academic courses will be made on a case-by-case basis, so students are not guaranteed a particular outcome with respect to high school credits earned through the CDM policy. Regarding CTE courses, students who request credit without completing the course will not be eligible for articulated credit at the community college.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SYSTEM
Like community colleges, the University of North Carolina member universities have traditionally accepted the State Board of Education’s authority to determine how students earn high school credit toward graduation. Based upon discussions during the summer of 2013 with UNC-GA staff as well as enrollment managers across the system, the credit by demonstrated mastery policy does not change that. Students with a diploma from a North Carolina high school will be recognized as high school graduates regardless of the credits earned via the CDM policy, thus ensuring students’ ability to enroll in a UNC system university following graduation. As always, the minimum admission requirements must be satisfied.