May 6, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - All 35 Stanford University athletics programs exceeded the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate standards and six Cardinal teams earned perfect 1000 scores in the fourth annual set of APR numbers released today by the NCAA.
The 2009 report released by the NCAA features a four-year compilation of APR data from the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years and measures the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes competing on every Division I sports team. It also serves as a predictor of graduation success.
Stanford's men's golf, women's gymnastics, softball, women's tennis, women's volleyball and women's water polo programs received perfect 1000 scores. Near-perfect scores came in women's cross country (995), women's field hockey (994), women's lacrosse (997), women's soccer (997), women's swimming and diving (995) and women's track and field (998).
For the second straight year, Stanford's football program received the highest rating among Football Bowl Subdivision programs over a four-year period beginning in 2004-05. The Cardinal received a multi-year APR rating of 984, placing Stanford ahead of Air Force (983), Duke (980), Rutgers (980), Rice (979), Navy (978), Miami, Fla. (977) and Notre Dame (974).
The overall four-year Division I Academic Progress Rate is up three points to 964. Meanwhile, the number of student-athletes earning neither the retention nor the eligibility point continues to decline. Those highlights appear to be the product of a number of rule changes that began in 2003 - including increased progress-toward-degree benchmarks, greater core-course requirements and more stringent standards for transfers.
Overall, the single-year APR of Division I student-athletes rose to 971.
APR scores per institution, along with penalties per school and teams receiving public recognition, are available online at ncaa.org.