Two Terp Teams Earn NCAA Academic Recognition
4/24/2008 8:00:00 AM | Terrapin Athletics
April 24, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland gymnastics and women's indoor track and field 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.
The gymnastics team has been recognized for the second straight year and carries a perfect multiyear rate of 1,000 over the four years the academic data has been tracked by the NCAA. The women's indoor track and field team earned an APR of 991.
The public recognition program was developed by the NCAA to acknowledge those varsity teams that are leading the nation in the progress goals set forth as part of the Academic Performance Program.
"We are very pleased that these programs have been recognized by the NCAA for their academic efforts," said director of athletics Deborah A. Yow. "A commitment to academic progress and continued improvement in this area are important to develop a culture of excellence. We look forward to additional teams earning this achievement in the future."
The APR is an 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, 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 athletics 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 nationally will be released by the NCAA next month.
Full information regarding today's release nationwide is available at www.ncaa.org.
