Why a high APR doesn't necessarily translate to academic excellence, part I

Last week the NCAA released the latest APR figures, which for years has been tied to the idea of academic excellence.

We may want to start rethinking that a little bit.

To quote the NCAA website the “Academic Progress Rate (APR) holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term.”

In other words it measures whether or not the students are on pace to graduate.

However, it’s a bit like saying: “This is the pace you need to go” to finish a golf tournament, but doesn’t take into consideration is that if your scores aren’t good enough you won’t make the cut.

Take a moment and think of all the teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and then consider the words “Academic excellence.” One or two schools probably immediately jumped to mind.

They should easily be in the top 25 scores from this year’s report, right? Well let’s see. An APR of 1,000 is perfect, while low scores can result in penalties. A 930 translates into 50 percent being on target to graduate:

2013-14 APR rankings (multi-year scores)

1. Wisconsin 998
2. Northwestern 992
3. Michigan 990
4. Stanford 987
5. Utah State 985
(tie) Nebraska 985
7. Clemson 984
8. Vanderbilt 983
9. Army 981
(tie) Boise State 981
11. Air Force 980
(tie) Rutgers 980
(tie) Boston College 980
14. Notre Dame 978
(tie) Alabama 978
(tie) Georgia Tech 978
17. Virginia Tech 977
(tie) Washington 977
(tie) Louisville 977
(tie) Central Florida 977
(tie) Indiana 977
22. Missouri 976
(tie) Kansas State 976
24. South Carolina 975
25. Minnesota 975
(tie) UCLA 975
(tie) San Jose State 975

So how many of those teams finished in the top 25 of last season’s final Associated Press poll?

Actually nine: Alabama, Georgia Tech, UCLA, Wisconsin, Missouri, Clemson,
Boise State, Kansas State and Louisville.