Statistics often define student-athlete performance on the fields and courts, but now Division I institutions have received statistics that define their performance in the classroom as well.

In perhaps the most highly anticipated membership mailing since graduation rates began being compiled in the 1980s, Academic Progress Rate (APR) data from 2003-04 have been sent to every Division I institution's chief executive officer for review. The reports provide each institution with its overall APR for 2003-04, as well as APRs for each NCAA championship sport the school sponsors.

The data project that about 7 percent of all teams will be subject to contemporaneous penalties (financial aid restrictions) beginning in 2005-06. About 51 percent of all Division I institutions would have at least one team that would be subject to penalty, and most of those teams are concentrated in football, baseball and men's basketball.

Sixty institutions have at least three teams that would be subject to penalty, and of those, 16 have five or more.

No contemporaneous penalties will be assessed based on the 2003-04 APR data, however. The penalty phase won't be implemented until next year, when two years of APR data are available.

For informational purposes, though, the 2003-04 reports do indicate the number of contemporaneous financial aid penalties institutions would have incurred had the penalty phase been in effect this year. The Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) and the Board of Directors, the primary drivers of the academic-reform initiative, believe that action in effect puts institutions "on notice" as to the kinds of academic outcomes that will subject teams to penalty in subsequent years.

Contemporaneous penalties are those that prevent programs from replacing the grant-in-aid for one year of a student-athlete who leaves the institution and would not have been academically eligible had he or she returned. They have been called "the shot across the bow" designed to change behavior as more years of APR data are collected. If a team's academic performance still lags after four years of APR data, harsher penalties will be applied.

Though APRs from other institutions are not included in the individual reports to Division I schools, aggregate APR data are provided for comparative purposes. For example, in addition to the overall institutional APR and the APR for each men's and women's sport, the report also lists the by-sport APR averages for all of Division I and for each subdivision. A comparison of APR data for public and private institutions also is included.

The most meaningful number in the reports is 925, the APR score under which teams will be subject to contemporaneous penalty. That number was selected because it equates to a 50 percent graduation rate.

Football, baseball and men's basketball are the only sports whose average APR falls below 925. The 284 Division I baseball teams posted an average APR of 922, while the 234 football and 326 men's basketball squads compiled an average APR of 923. About 30 percent of football teams, 23 percent of baseball teams and 20 percent of men's basketball teams fell below the 925 cut-off.

Three women's sports -- field hockey, lacrosse and rowing -- posted the highest average APR (981). Women's gymnastics (979), women's ice hockey (975) and women's swimming and diving (975) also posted higher average APRs than any men's sport. The men's sport with the highest average APR in 2003-04 was gymnastics (973). Other men's sports with high APRs among the cohort are ice hockey (968), skiing (967), swimming and diving (967), fencing (965), lacrosse (964) and golf (961).

Besides baseball, football and men's basketball, the sports with an average APR nearest the 925 mark are wrestling (932), men's outdoor track and field (946), and women's bowling (946).

The overall Division I APR for 2003-04 (all teams) is 948. By subdivision, Division I-A's APR is 944, Division I-AA's is 946 and Division I-AAA's is 954. In men's basketball, Division I-A institutions posted an average APR of 906. For Divisions I-AA and I-AAA the average APR in men's basketball is 933 and 934, respectively. In baseball, the breakdown is 912 for I-A, 931 for I-AA and 927 for I-AAA. In football, it is 921 for I-A and 925 for I-AA.

Private institutions posted higher average APRs than public institutions in all sports except men's water polo and men's rifle. The breakdown for men's basketball is 912 (public) and 945 (private). In football, it is 913 and 949, respectively, and in baseball, it is 910 and 948, respectively

'Academic blueprint'

The reports also indicate how teams compared with others in the same sport by providing a percentile ranking. For example, if Institution X has an APR in men's basketball of 916 the report would indicate that it is in the 30th to 40th percentile -- or in other words, that 30 to 40 percent of Division I men's basketball teams had APRs lower than this team.

CAP Chair and University of Hartford President Walter Harrison, under whose signature the reports were sent, called them "the blueprint for active review of teams' academic performance."

He said because this first APR report is for information purposes only -- and because no contemporaneous penalties will be applied this year -- the time is now for presidents to review results and change institutional behavior where necessary.

"Presidents ought to use this as a way to get ready," he said. "They'll see what each of their teams' APR is, how it was calculated and how many players left the institution and were ineligible. They'll know what they have to do -- if they're below 925 -- to meet or exceed that mark in the future."

Harrison's Committee on Academic Performance may be able to assist institutions with those adjustments later this spring with what is being called an "academic recovery plan" for academically under-performing teams. Such a plan would include ways in which institutions might review their recruiting practices and/or admissions policies for those sports, or look at the academic-support services available in those sports to see if improvements can be made. The CAP hopes to complete a model plan by its April meeting.

For now, Harrison said he would expect presidents with teams near or below the 925 APR "to ask the athletics director to explain why and work on a plan to get above the mark by next year."

Contemporaneous penalties will be assessed based on a two-year APR score (2003-04 and 2004-05 combined) and on student-athlete eligibility and retention status in 2004-05 (that is, a student-athlete who is neither eligible nor retained may subject a team to penalty). Institutions will officially be notified in December 2005 if any of their teams are subject to penalty.

Board of Directors Chair Robert Hemenway, chancellor of the University of Kansas, said the APR reports signal a new day in academic reform, and that institutions accustomed to what has now been determined to be unacceptable behavior should change their ways quickly.

"Those institutions that have not been dedicated to graduating their student-athletes know that they now are in some considerable jeopardy because of having taken that approach," he said. "I can't think of a better way than the APR to signal that the integration of athletics and academics is indeed the policy of the NCAA and will have to be vigorously adhered to by member schools."

APR correction window

Institutions that have identified errors in their previously submitted 2003-04 Academic Progress Rate data will have the month of March to make any corrections. To make changes, institutions must e-mail Maria DeJulio at mdejulio@ncaa.org with the following information:

• Name of person requesting the change (title, phone number and e-mail address);

• Name of student-athlete record that needs to be changed;

• Social security/ID number of the student;

• Sport(s) in which the student-athlete is in the APR cohort; and

• The specific changes that need to be made for this student.

Institutions will receive an e-mail response from DeJulio confirming any changes that are made. Contacting DeJulio via e-mail is the only mechanism for making corrections. Institutions will not be able to make changes in the Academic Performance Program system using their username and password.

One specific problem that may need to be corrected occurs in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. Institutions should have a separate and distinct APR score for each of those sports if all three are sponsored. If an institution sponsors all three of those sports and the APR report does not reflect an APR for all three, then a correction must be made. In this case, institutions must e-mail DeJulio and indicate the need for a correction, noting the student-athletes who participate in each sport. The change may require a phone call from DeJulio, so the e-mail request for correction must include a phone number.

All corrections must be made by March 31.

Appeals process available

The Committee on Academic Performance has appointed a subcommittee on appeals that has the authority to waive contemporaneous penalties if mitigating circumstances warrant such action.

The subcommittee is likely to develop a directive in April that will indicate to member institutions and national office staff what the subcommittee will look for regarding waivers. Possible key considerations may include mitigating circumstances and institutional mission. The waiver process will be completely Web-based.

Since the confidence boundary is in effect for the early years of APR compilation, a team requesting an appeal even after the upper confidence boundary places its APR below 925 would be considered to be under-performing significantly. Thus, a request from such a team should include compelling evidence why a waiver of a contemporaneous penalty would be warranted.

In future years, the CAP's subcommittee on appeals also will have the authority to waive first- and/or second-year penalties under the historically based penalty structure in addition to having the authority to waive contemporaneous penalties.

Average APRs by subdivision

Public/private APR comparison

Men's sports average APR

(with number of teams in cohort)

Gymnastics (17) -- 973
Ice hockey (57) -- 968
Skiing (13) -- 967
Swimming and diving (140) -- 967
Fencing (20) -- 965
Lacrosse (54) -- 964
Golf (285) -- 961
Water polo (17) -- 956
Tennis (265) -- 955
Cross country* (216) -- 954
Rifle (4) -- 950
Soccer (198) -- 948
Volleyball (21) -- 948
Outdoor track and field* (252) -- 946
Wrestling (84) -- 932
Football (234) -- 923
Basketball (326) -- 923
Indoor track and field* (156) -- 923
Baseball (284) -- 922

Women's sports average APR

(with number of teams in cohort)

Field hockey (76) -- 981
Lacrosse (77) -- 981
Rowing (80) -- 981
Gymnastics (64) -- 979
Ice hockey (29) -- 975
Swimming and diving (185) -- 975
Golf (223) -- 970
Rifle (10) -- 970
Soccer (295) -- 970
Equestrian (5) -- 969
Skiing (15) -- 969
Water polo (30) -- 968
Fencing (24) -- 967
Tennis (310) -- 967
Volleyball (311) -- 965
Softball (264) -- 964
Outdoor track and field* (283) -- 959
Cross country* (230) -- 958
Indoor track and field* (200) -- 957
Basketball (324) -- 956
Bowling (25) -- 946

*APR reports indicate that some institutions are not recording student-athletes correctly in these sports. Institutions have until March 31 to make necessary changes.