Apr 12, 2014 11:27 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of North Carolina (UNC) has commissioned a new research analysis that disputes Mary Willingham's findings of illiteracy among the school's athletes.

According to the Associated Press, UNC hired professors from Georgia State, Minnesota and Virginia to review Willingham's report. In Jan., the UNC reading specialist told CNN she found 60 percent of the school's athletes to read at a fourth- to eighth-grade level.

Willingham had reviewed 183 football and basketball players from 2004 to 2012 and also said about 10 percent read at a third-grade level or worse. Just recently, she provided ESPN with a sample essay written for a class designed to never meet and provide student-athletes with passing grades in order to keep them academically eligible.

Willingham provided her results to UNC provost James W. Dean Jr. Jan. 13 and has stood by them since. She was barred from accessing student-related data while the school conducted its own review of her work, which also disputer her findings.

One outside expert said seven percent of the athletes in Willingham's study read at a fourth- to eighth-grade level. The school said they have has about 1,800 student-athletes from 2004 to 2012 and the data included 176 athletes who also played sports like volleyball and baseball.

Dennis Kramer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia, made the seven-percent estimate and said the data he was provided only showed "a snapshot."

"My review looked at just the data I was provided and based all the claims I made from the data that was provided," Kramer told the AP. "Individuals like Mary Willingham, I respect them tremendously for the work they do to support student-athletes."

The UNC reading specialist will analyze the outside experts' research before responding in full.

"For now I will just say that I am disappointed that the university neglected to take even the most basic steps to ensure the integrity, impartiality and fairness of its supposedly 'independent' review of my data," Willingham told the AP. "The fact that they engaged in this exercise without ever seeking input from me or my research partner, and without the raw scores, or an examination of the full battery of tests... speaks volumes about the true motivations behind today's press release."

Part of UNC's academic scandal includes the entire Department of African and African American Studies holding "paper classes." In these classes, mostly student-athletes would enroll because the only requirement was to write a paper.

Willingham alleges the department leaders would forge signatures to grant everyone with a passing grade regardless of the work turned in. This was meant to keep athletes academically eligible to compete in their sport. The former department chair, Julius Nayang'oro, is currently facing federal fraud charges for such forgeries while accepting a salary.

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