May 7, 2014
THE FLATS – Four Georgia Tech teams rank among the nation’s best when it comes to the Academic Progress Rate (APR) — football, golf, women’s tennis, and men’s swimming — doubling last year’s count of two nationally-recognized teams.
All four Yellow Jacket teams were recognized Wednesday by the NCAA for producing an APR ranking in the top 10 percent nationally within those sports.
Georgia Tech’s football program had improved its APR every year under head coach Paul Johnson and this year matched its score from last year of 983. Wednesday’s announcement puts the Yellow Jackets in the top 10 percent nationally for the second consecutive time since the APR originated in 2003-04.
For coach Bruce Heppler’s golf team, it is business as usual. Since the APR began, the Yellow Jacket golf program has recorded a perfect 1,000 score every year (although this year’s score won’t be revealed until May 14).
Not to be overshadowed, women’s tennis and men’s swimming also rank top 10 percent nationally. This is a first for both sports.
“Our vision is to create a top tier athletic department with excellence not only on the playing fields, but also in the classroom,” Georgia Tech athletic director Mike Bobinski said. “These recent APR scores are an indicator that we are making good progress towards part of this goal.”
“This is a great accomplishment for our school, athletic department, and most importantly these teams and student-athletes. Strong APR directly correlates to good performance in the classroom and ultimately graduation. Graduating our student-athletes is a top priority for this organization.”
“Congratulations to all four teams, the student-athletes, coaching staffs and our academic support team,” Bobinski said.
Background on APR Public Recognition Announcement:
Each year, the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR). This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.
The APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance.
APR is then measured two ways:
1) Multi-year: Average of 4 cohorts (incoming freshman classes) 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, and 2012-13. (Top 10 rankings)
2) Single year: 2012-13.
The public recognition is for the multiyear rate concluding with the 2012-13 year and not for the 2012-13 year alone.
