Report By LBSU
The NCAA announced its multi-year academic performance rates (APR) for Division I teams today (May 6), which covers a four-year period from the academic years of 2004-05 to 2007-08, and Long Beach State exceeded the minimum score in all 18 sports the school offers.
“The APR has become the gold standard for measuring academic performance of our NCAA teams,” President F. King Alexander said. “It is extremely reassuring to know that once again all 18 of our teams pass with flying colors, which places us among the best programs in the state and nation.”
The APR was developed by the NCAA in 2004 to measure the academic progress and performance of athletic programs at its member institutions. Long Beach State led the Big West Conference in both women’s golf and women’s track and field, while ranking in the top three in 10 of the 14 Big West sports in which 49er teams compete.
Overall, every one of Long Beach State’s 18 teams exceeded the minimum standard multi-year score of 925 with 16 of the 18 teams improving its score from last year. Every LBSU team scored at least a 935 with the men’s volleyball team leading the way with a perfect 1,000 score. Both women’s cross country and women’s golf scored a 992, while men’s golf (986), women’s outdoor track (981) and women’s indoor track (981) scored higher than 980.
Men’s volleyball also scored in the top 90th to 100th percentile both among Division I men’s volleyball teams and among Division I teams of all sports. Women’s cross country scored in the 80th to 90th percentile among Division I women’s cross country teams and all Division I teams, while women’s golf scored in the 80th to 90th percentile among all Division I teams and in the 70th to 80th percentile among all Division I women `s golf teams. The men’s golf team scored in the 70th to 80th percentile among Division I men’s golf teams and among Division I teams of all sports.
“Having all of the Long Beach State teams achieving positive NCAA Academic Progress Rates is a tribute to our coaches, the academic support staff and the student athletes representing the university and its 18 intercollegiate teams,” Director of Athletics Vic Cegles added. “We are proud to be winning championships and at the same time helping young men and women pursue academic success.”
The APR is determined by using the eligibility and retention for each student-athlete on scholarship during a particular academic year. Student-athletes are awarded one point for each semester they are enrolled and one point for each semester they are eligible for intercollegiate competition. A student-athlete can earn a maximum of two points per semester and a maximum of four points during an academic year.
The APR is calculated by taking the number of possible points for a particular sport and dividing that number by the total number of points earned from student-athlete retention and eligibility over the same period of time. The percentage is then multiplied by 1,000 to get the actual APR.
The NCAA does not penalize an institution for student-athletes who remain academically eligible but did not return to the institution due to circumstances beyond the student and/or institution’s control. Examples of this include student-athletes who leave to pursue professional athletics, suffer from incapacitating physical or mental illness, or experience extreme financial difficulties as the result of a specific even such as a death in the family.
Complete information on the 2009 APR Report can be found at the NCAA’s website, NCAA.org.