Development | June 14, 2022
PHILADELPHIA - Three La Salle University athletics programs were recognized by the NCAA for having perfect Academic Progress Rate scores for the 2020-21 year. Men's golf, women's golf, and women's rowing each had multi-year rate scores of 1,000.
The three teams gaining recognition are the most by La Salle Athletics since the NCAA began tracking APR back in 2004-05. It is the fourth straight recognition for women's golf and the fourth overall award for women's rowing (2007-10). Men's golf is being recognized for the first time in program history.
The public announcement of APRs returns after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This spring, the Division I Board of Directors approved the continual suspension of APR penalties for an additional year due to the impact of the pandemic; however, it supported the public release of the APR data.
"The APR data continues to demonstrate the high level of academic achievement of our student-athletes and teams, and their resiliency to excel through a global pandemic and instability in the intercollegiate landscape," said Division I Committee on Academics chair Dianne Harrison, president emerita at California State University, Northridge. "The APR has been and continues to be a valuable real-time tool that provides us with an opportunity to identify and work with schools that may need additional assistance to improve their academic support services. Overall, the Academic Performance Program furthers the NCAA's commitment to academic excellence and integrity and the public release of this APR data while penalties are suspended is a reasonable interim step."
Each academic year, every Division I sports team across the country calculates its APR using a simple and consistent formula. Each term, scholarship student-athletes can earn 1 point for remaining eligible and 1 point for staying in school or graduating. For schools that do not offer scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.
The Academic Performance Program has established an essential framework for academic excellence. The program provides measurable goals to ensure schools are fulfilling their commitment of equipping student-athletes with the tools and resources necessary to achieve academic success.
Throughout 18 years of the Academic Performance Program, more than 20,000 student-athletes have gone back to school to earn their degrees — earning points for their former team. For the high-profile sports of football, baseball, and men's and women's basketball, more than 10,400 former student-athletes have returned to college to complete their degrees. These student-athletes are typically not counted in the federal graduation rate or Graduation Success Rate calculations.
