Tech Performs Well in Initial NCAA APR Report

Posted February 28, 2005 | Atlanta

Georgia Tech's athletics teams performed well in the initial
data released today by the NCAA regarding the new Academic Progress Rate (APR).

In particular, Tech's men's basketball score of 962 for the 2003-04 academic year ranks in the 70th-80th percentile nationally, meaning that Georgia Tech stands better than at least 70 percent of NCAA Division I basketball programs. Tech's football score of 942 is in the 60th-70th percentile.

The APR is a key component of the NCAA's academic reform structure, which is designed to ultimately improve graduation rates for student-athletes. Under the APR formula, each scholarship student-athlete is scored each semester, receiving one point for remaining academically eligible and one point for being retained. One point is deducted for each student-athlete who is not academically eligible, and one point is deducted for each student-athlete who leaves school for any reason, including academic status, transfer to another institution or pursuit of a professional career.

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors, on which Georgia Tech President Dr. Wayne Clough serves, established a score of 925 (out of 1000) as acceptable for each sport. A sport program falling below 925 would be subject to scholarship reductions, losing scholarship equivalency for any student-athletes who receive an "0-for-2" score, meaning that he or she left school and was not academically eligible upon departure. However, the 925 score will be initially adjusted with a temporary confidence boundary to account for squad sizes until more data is collected.

Data released today is for the 2003-04 academic year and will be combined with 2004-05 data to achieve the initial score for which schools could be penalized.

No Tech programs would be subject to penalties, based on the 2003-04 data released today.

Sixteen of the Yellow Jackets' 17 sports programs scored above the established standard of 925. The lone exception is baseball at 907, but even that score is well within the APR upper confidence boundary, which accounts for squad size until more data can be collected. Also, baseball had seven players leave for professional baseball following their junior seasons, but all were academically eligible, meaning that there would be no "0-for-2" penalties.

As a member of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, Clough has stressed the need to supplement graduation rate data, which measures what has happened in the past rather than what is currently happening.

"As a member of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, our intent was to find a statistic that would provide a timely and meaningful measure of a university's commitment to academics," said Clough. "While the new APR is not perfect, it's a step in the right direction. It will provide universities and the public with a more intelligent assessment of the success of student-athletes, and provide data that reflects the current situation and not the way it was six years ago.

"I'm very pleased with Georgia Tech's numbers. As one of the few technological research universities competing at Division I-A athletics, I'm very impressed with the success of our student-athletes and coaches. Since we have no calculus-free majors at Tech, I'm delighted that our first report shows us to compete very well with other Division 1A programs around the country. We have a very good foundation from which to build and we will continue to be vigilant as we build a winning program on the playing field and in the classroom."

Tech Director of Athletics Dave Braine said, "We're very pleased with our initial APR report. We are committed to the academic success of our student-athletes, and these figures clearly show that they are performing well and succeeding in the classroom as well as on the field."

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