Two Terp Teams Earn NCAA Academic Recognition
4/26/2007 8:00:00 AM | Terrapin Athletics
April 26, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland women's cross country and gymnastics teams were chosen for public recognition Thursday by the NCAA for being among the top 10 percent of programs in the nation in Academic Progress Rates in their respective sports.
Each of these programs has achieved a perfect multiyear rate of 1,000 over the course of the three years (2003-04 to 2005-06) the academic data has been tracked by the NCAA. The public recognition program was developed by the NCAA to acknowledge those programs that are achieving the progress goals set forth as part of the recent Academic Performance Program.
"A commitment to academic progress and continuing improvement in this area are part of the culture we've established at the University of Maryland for our student-athletes and coaches," said director of athletics Deborah A. Yow. "We appreciate the public recognition of the women's cross country and gymnastics programs and look forward to more of our teams sharing this achievement in the future."
The APR is the new index developed by the NCAA to provide, by team, a real-time snapshot of student-athlete retention and eligibility performance of all Division I institutions. Also allowed are bonus points for student-athletes returning to graduate. The APR is part of a larger system package, the NCAA Academic Performance Program (APP), which was mandated by the NCAA Board of Directors to improve the academic performance of athletic teams.
In calculating the APR, each student-athlete who receives athletic aid receives one point for continuing as a full-time student or graduating, and one point for remaining eligible to compete each semester. The maximum number of points a student-athlete can earn in an academic year is four. A team's APR is the total number of points earned divided by the maximum number of points possible. This APR number is then multiplied by 1,000. (For example, a team which receives 94 percent of all possible points would have a team APR of 940.)
Team-by-team APRs for all schools across the nation will be released by the NCAA next week.
Full information regarding today's release nationwide is available at www.ncaa.org.
