Kayla Peeples
The two most effective methods the NCAA use to track the progression of athletes academically, the Academic Performance Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR), numbers do not necessarily align to show a balanced comparison .
The APR measures the academic achievements of teams each semester of every student receiving athletic based scholarships; the APR credits institutions for having students in good academic standing at the end of the semester. A perfect APR score is 1000. However, for division 1 teams to compete in championships, the minimum is 930 in the most recent two years, which predicts a 50 percent graduation rate.
The GSR is developed to more accurately reflect students who transfer between colleges or universities and student who transfer out of their original college or university that are still in good academic standing.
Overall it takes into account the transitions student-athletes go through that the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) does not accommodate.
The University of Georgia’s football team most recent APR score for 2011-2012 is 968 and its GSR for that same year was 69 percent.
In 2006 and 2007 the APR stood at 965 with a GSR of 41 percent. The correlation between high APR scores and GRS flucuate. Through 2007 and 2009 the team’s APR was higher than 968 but had a GRS under 60 percent.
The two most effective methods the NCAA use to track the progression of athletes academically, the Academic Performance Rate (APR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR), numbers do not necessarily align to show a balanced comparison .
The APR measures the academic achievements of teams each semester of every student receiving athletic based scholarships; the APR credits institutions for having students in good academic standing at the end of the semester. A perfect APR score is 1000. However, for division 1 teams to compete in championships, the minimum is 930 in the most recent two years, which predicts a 50 percent graduation rate.
The GSR is developed to more accurately reflect students who transfer between colleges or universities and student who transfer out of their original college or university that are still in good academic standing.
Overall it takes into account the transitions student-athletes go through that the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) does not accommodate.
The University of Georgia’s football team most recent APR score for 2011-2012 is 968 and its GSR for that same year was 69 percent.
In 2006 and 2007 the APR stood at 965 with a GSR of 41 percent. The correlation between high APR scores and GRS flucuate. Through 2007 and 2009 the team’s APR was higher than 968 but had a GRS under 60 percent.
Last year, NCAA released its annual graduation rate report and altogether athletic programs had a GSR of 83 percent.
The most improved were football, 82 percent; men’s basketball, 63 percent; and men’s cross country/track, 79 percent.
Each team increased by 13 percent.
The football team went from 69 percent to 82 percent in a year. Within the past eight years the closest to come to that high of a jump was the 11 percent increase in 2010.
Institutions face penalties for not adhering to APR requirements that can result in coach suspensions, loss of financial aid and reduction of practice time are a few to name.
There is a level of pressure of students and coaches to win at all costs, but most importantly stay in the game.
Although the NCAA is tightening academic requirements of student-athletes, they are subjected to either scoring well on standardized tests or have a high GPA. Whereas a student admitted into the University of Georgia, has their grade transcripts, SAT or ACT heavily influence their admission acceptance.
Between fall terms 2009 and 2013, the mean SAT score of UGA incoming freshmen steadily sat just under 1250, compared to the state level of around 980.
Football players whose test scores were accounted for averaged 1010 between 2007 and 2012.
Veteran sports reporter and professor at Grady College, Welch Suggs, associated the academic variance among student and nonstudent athletes to their background. What social class a student’s family belonged to or whether their high school performed poorly in standardized testing, are just few factors that contribute to athletes succeeding in institutions like UGA.
“Issue is schools recruit athletes football and basketball players from different parts of students than overall student body…they don’t have experience to be successful in same kind of courses,” said Welch.
Once a student is recruited to their team, the role as player outweighs that of student. College athletes undoubtedly combat the restraints of time and equally focusing on their academics and demanding sport lifestyle.
The pressure is immense on student athletes who enroll into institutions only meeting the requirements of the NCAA and fall short of admission requirements.
“Imagine being a high profile athlete at a place like UGA or Alabama,” said Welch.
It is that type of status that steers players into a pattern of major selection with little prerequisites. The issue is whether athletes major in “eligibility” of NCAA versus a career path prepared for life after college.
The most improved were football, 82 percent; men’s basketball, 63 percent; and men’s cross country/track, 79 percent.
Each team increased by 13 percent.
The football team went from 69 percent to 82 percent in a year. Within the past eight years the closest to come to that high of a jump was the 11 percent increase in 2010.
Institutions face penalties for not adhering to APR requirements that can result in coach suspensions, loss of financial aid and reduction of practice time are a few to name.
There is a level of pressure of students and coaches to win at all costs, but most importantly stay in the game.
Although the NCAA is tightening academic requirements of student-athletes, they are subjected to either scoring well on standardized tests or have a high GPA. Whereas a student admitted into the University of Georgia, has their grade transcripts, SAT or ACT heavily influence their admission acceptance.
Between fall terms 2009 and 2013, the mean SAT score of UGA incoming freshmen steadily sat just under 1250, compared to the state level of around 980.
Football players whose test scores were accounted for averaged 1010 between 2007 and 2012.
Veteran sports reporter and professor at Grady College, Welch Suggs, associated the academic variance among student and nonstudent athletes to their background. What social class a student’s family belonged to or whether their high school performed poorly in standardized testing, are just few factors that contribute to athletes succeeding in institutions like UGA.
“Issue is schools recruit athletes football and basketball players from different parts of students than overall student body…they don’t have experience to be successful in same kind of courses,” said Welch.
Once a student is recruited to their team, the role as player outweighs that of student. College athletes undoubtedly combat the restraints of time and equally focusing on their academics and demanding sport lifestyle.
The pressure is immense on student athletes who enroll into institutions only meeting the requirements of the NCAA and fall short of admission requirements.
“Imagine being a high profile athlete at a place like UGA or Alabama,” said Welch.
It is that type of status that steers players into a pattern of major selection with little prerequisites. The issue is whether athletes major in “eligibility” of NCAA versus a career path prepared for life after college.