APR Public Recognition Awards to be Released April 22nd
TO: Division I conference and campus athletics communicators
FROM: Erik Christianson, NCAA director of public and media relations
RE: APR public recognition awards
The NCAA will release the Division I Academic Progress Rate public recognition awards on Wednesday, April 22, at 2 p.m. Eastern. The awards will be posted on the NCAA website by sport and by institution, and we will distribute a press release nationally with aggregate data about the awards.
Campuses and conferences will be provided links to the public recognition information on April 20. I encourage you to check with your compliance office or athletic director for the information.
To assist you in preparation for press releases and public comments about your teams who might be included on the lists, we are providing the following background information about the awards. Please feel free to include this background information in your releases as needed. We will provide the aggregate public recognition information in our national release on April 22, and you can include that information in your own releases as well.
BACKGROUND ON APR PUBLIC RECOGNITION AWARDS
The NCAA is honoring Division I sports teams with public recognition awards for their latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores. These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The most recent APR scores are multi-year rates based on the scores from the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 academic years. The public recognition awards are part of the overall 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.
Multi-year APR scores for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6. The announcement also will include immediate and historical penalties for low-performing teams.