April 22, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - The NCAA is honoring sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores and 11 Stanford athletic teams--football, men's golf, men's soccer, women's gymnastics, softball, women's soccer, women's tennis, women's indoor track and field, women's outdoor track and field, women's volleyball and women's water polo--were rated in the top ten percent of all teams in their respective sports.
The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The teams recognized this year represent 11.8 percent of the 6,484 Division I teams. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000 over the data collection period.
The effort is part of a public-recognition program the Division I Board of Directors approved in January 2006. Last year, a total of 839 teams were recognized.In women's sports, tennis again featured the most teams with 57, followed by volleyball (48), golf (46) and basketball (40). The men's sports with the highest number of teams honored were cross country (35), basketball (35) and golf (32).
Last year, a total of 712 teams were recognized.
The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent, depending on how many teams achieved perfect 1,000 APR scores. In some sports, teams had to maintain a perfect score over the four-year period to be recognized.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes both retention at an institution and academic eligibility in its calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.
The next round of multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historically based penalties for low-performing teams.