Letter from the AD
NCAA Academic Progress Rate Update
This past week NCAA President Myles Brand announced a dramatic sea change in college athletics with the release of the new Academic Progress Rate. I thought it might be helpful to explain this report and how Northeastern measures up.
Last year, as part of the NCAA’s efforts towards academic reform, the NCAA Div. I membership passed new academic legislation that would measure each institution’s Academic Progress Rate (APR). This legislation was adopted in order for the NCAA and each of its member institutions to get a better picture of what is happening on our campuses academically than what we had in the past received through the Institutional Graduation Rate Report. The APR measures both eligibility/graduation and retention during each semester for every student-athlete on athletics scholarship. If a student-athlete attends Northeastern for the entire academic year, that student is eligible to earn up to four points. During each semester they receive one point for being eligible and one point for continuing school at the same institution. These points are accumulated for each individual sport and for the athletic program as a whole. For example, during the 2003-2004 school year, the men’s baseball team had 14 individuals on full or partial athletics scholarship. Out of a possible 56 points, they earned 54, which is equivalent to 96.4% of their available points, which is presented as a 964 APR. Baseball lost two points for retention because two individuals whose eligibility had expired chose to pursue a professional baseball career and not return to finish school in the fall of 2004.
The NCAA Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) determined through careful statistical analysis that a cut rate of 925 would be established. The cut rate is used to determine which teams are subject to contemporaneous penalties (i.e., loss of scholarships). The 925 cut rate is equivalent to a 50 percent graduation rate. The numbers reported to date are based on one-year of data and are for informational purposes so that each institution knows where they stand. Institutions are not yet subject to penalties.
Penalties will begin to be assessed during the 2005-06 academic year based on a two-year average (data from 2003-04 and 2004-05). The NCAA is working towards a four-year rolling average, similar to how graduation rates are currently calculated, to base the penalties on. In the years prior to establishing the 4-year rolling average, the NCAA statisticians have created confidence boundaries for sports with small squad sizes. This means that even though a team may score below an average of 925, they will not be subject to contemporaneous penalties if they fall within these confidence boundaries. The confidence boundaries are a sliding scale based on squad size.
As expected, due to our 70 percent scholarship student-athlete graduation rate in 2004, Northeastern as a whole scored well in the APR. As an institution, we had a score of 961, better than 60-70 percent of Div. I institutions. At Northeastern, 17 of 18 sports scored above the 925 benchmark (men’s crew does not report because it is not an NCAA sponsored sport). The following are the scores for the 18 sports Northeastern reported:
Men’s basketball is the one sport that did not meet the 925 benchmark. Their score of 846 is based on the eligibility and retention of 14 scholarship student-athletes. Unfortunately our basketball score was negatively affected by a combination of reasons including players leaving school for professional opportunities and leaving school to return to their native country.
Men’s basketball earned 44 points out of a possible 52, which is equivalent to an APR of 846. It is important to note that this score is based on one year of data. We have another year (2004-05) to improve our performance before contemporaneous penalties will be assessed. In the fall 2004 semester, we had 11 student-athletes on scholarship in the sport of basketball. These student-athletes earned all 22 points they were eligible to earn. This would bring the team’s three semester APR up to an 891 [(22+44)/ (22+52) =891)]. While still below the 925 benchmark established by CAP, it is within the confidence boundary number of 875 that would provide relief from contemporaneous penalties. Academic monitoring continues to be strict during this spring semester and summer school has already been scheduled for a couple student-athletes.
I hope this explanation is helpful. Rest assured we are working diligently to identify potential problems so that we can achieve our primary goal of ensuring the academic success of our student-athletes and the academic reputation of Northeastern.
Go Huskies!
Dave O'Brien
Previous letters
March 2005
Hello Husky Fans!
Team Score Team Score Baseball 964 Men's Basketball 846 Men's Cross Country 1000 Football 958 Men's Ice Hockey 982 Men's Soccer 962
Men's Indoor Track
958
Men's Outdoor Track
962 Women's Basketball 971 Women's Cross Country 1000 Women's Rowing 977 Field Hockey 971 Women's Ice Hockey 932 Women's Soccer 984 Women's Swimming 946
Women's Indoor Track
1000
Women's Outdoor Track
1000 
Director of Athletics & Recreation
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• Spring 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• December 2003
• November 2003
• Summer 2003
• June 2003
• May 2003
• April 2003
• March 2003
• February 2003
• Q & A with Dave O'Brien
