University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Announces Academic Progress Rates
May 06, 2008 | General
The University of Tennessee men???s and women???s athletics departments on Tuesday announced academic progress rates (APR) for student-athletes.
The Academic Progress Rate, now in its fourth year, measures the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes competing on every Division I sports team. It also serves as a predictor of graduation success. The most recent APR scores are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years.
The APR is based on each student-athlete having the opportunity to earn two points during each regular academic term of full-time enrollment (e.g., fall semester). One point is awarded if the student-athlete is academically eligible to compete the following regular academic term (or has graduated). The other point is awarded if the student-athlete returns to the institution as a full-time student the next regular academic term or graduate from the university. The APR is calculated by adding all points earned by student-athletes over the past two academic years and dividing that number by the total possible points that could have been earned. That number is then multiplied by 1,000.
When a team???s academic performance, measured by that team???s APR, falls below 925, that team becomes subject to penalties if any student-athlete on that team did not return to the institution as a full-time student and was not academically eligible when the student-athlete left the institution. This penalty is known as a contemporaneous penalty and potentially limits the amount of athletics aid that the team may award.
UT???s multi-year academic progress rates for individual sports were:
???We are very proud of our teams??? performance in the classroom,??? said Fernandez West, associate director of the Thornton Center. ???The NCAA???s Academic Reform package has challenged student-athletes to improve their academic endeavors, and UT???s student-athletes are stepping up to the challenge. Our coaches??? input and effort into the APR really has helped increase or maintain some of the APR numbers.???
Two of the University of Tennessee???s 20 programs received a contemporaneous penalty. Men???s basketball had an APR of 911 and men???s swimming had an APR of 920, primarily because each program had a student-athlete leave the university academically ineligible. Both programs chose to take the penalty last year with the loss of one scholarship each for the 2007-08 season. Baseball did not receive a penalty following an appeal.
Every team posting an APR score below 925 is required to develop a specific academic improvement plan. Teams posting APR scores below 900 must submit those plans to the NCAA national office for review.
???I am very proud of the accomplishments our student-athletes have made,??? said Joan Cronan, women???s athletic director. ???Now, we not only keep score on the field of play, but the APR is the win-loss record in the classroom, which is in accord with our mission statement that our student-athletes are students first.???
With the recent changes to NCAA rules for academic progression, the role of the Thornton Center is even more important. The new academic progress towards degree requirements require a student-athlete to complete various percentages toward degree requirements, specific grade point averages, and other requirements to remain eligible to compete.
The university encourages former athletes who left in good standing to return to the university to achieve their degree. The Renewing Academic Commitment (RAC) Program works with former student-athletes by assisting them with advice on degree requirements remaining, course scheduling, tutoring, employment and internship opportunities offered through the CHAMPS/Life Skills Office, and use of the Thornton Center for their every day needs.
There currently are 14 former scholarship student-athletes working with the RAC Program.
A key focus for the University of Tennessee athletics programs is to graduate student-athletes and prepare them for real-world experiences. In 2001, UT opened the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center to provide student-athletes with superior academic support programs and personal and career development assistance. Since the creation of the Thornton Center, Tennessee???s student-athletes have achieved increasing academic success:
- During the 2006-07 school year, 75 current and former Vols and Lady Vols graduated from the University of Tennessee, continuing Tennessee athletics??? tradition of commitment to the classroom. This group boasts 49 SEC honor roll and 60 Thornton Athletics Student Life Center honor roll recognitions.
- Tennessee had 227 student-athletes, or 45 percent, who achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher in fall 2006 and 225 student-athletes, or 48 percent, who achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher in spring 2007.
- Twenty-three former student-athletes have returned to earn their bachelor???s degree through the RAC program since fall 2003.
