National Collegiate Athletic Association
NCAA News Archive - 2010
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Jun 9, 2010 1:57:12 PM
The NCAA News
When Academic Progress Rates first were released six years ago, Santa Clara's rate was in the penalty range.
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RELATED The NCAA released the latest Academic Progress Rate figures Wednesday. Data show that student-athletes continue to achieve academically, but the numbers also reveal areas that need improvement. Analyzing APR over the last six years Successes: Culture changed in response to the APR, especially in baseball. Coaches contract accountability
Challenges: APR continues to challenge revenue sports and low-resource institutions.
What's next? The Committee on Academic Performance will review the entire program, including the penalty structure and benchmarks. More |
Since then, the academic performance of baseball student-athletes at the school has kept the team out of range of the most severe penalties, and for the last two years, the rate is closer to a perfect 1,000 than to a penalty.
In the most recent report released Wednesday, the Santa Clara baseball team earned a 984 APR.
New rules aimed at improving the academic performance of baseball student-athletes took effect in 2007-08. Jeff Mitchell, assistant athletics director for compliance and student services and baseball sport administrator, conceded that the changes may have helped contribute to better retention of student-athletes, but he believes the school's internal efforts are most responsible for the improvement.
"We were fortunate to recognize early in the first few years of the APR program that we needed to make adjustments to boost our scores in a few sports, including baseball," Mitchell said. "Our emphasis on targeted academic support and a general focus on student-athlete well-being have led our at-risk students to develop a sense of academic pride, which has translated into improved scores in both the academic eligibility and retention measurements."
At Santa Clara, the academic-support unit works closely with an assistant baseball coach to identify and support the at-risk students and to help with academic needs. In addition to assistance provided during the baseball season (such as proctoring missed exams in advance of the scheduled exam time), the academic-support unit also advises all student-athletes during scheduling and registration.
Mitchell said that the unit's improved relationship with faculty has also raised APRs. Creating a strong bond with professors helps the academic support staff make accommodations for student-athletes well in advance of potential conflicts.
Zoe Segnitz, academic support manager at Santa Clara, said improving the relationship with faculty on campus would be her top recommendation for other athletics departments looking to improve their APR.
"Whether this is an initiative taken on by the academic-support manager or the athletics director, the effect will be an increased sense of partnership leading to more creative and effective efforts to support student-athletes," Segnitz said. She recommended having academic-support people within athletics start the process by working more closely with campus-wide advisors.
Though the changes in baseball had a clear and dramatic impact on APR sport-wide, the improvement doesn't come without some changes within individual athletics departments, as well. Mitchell attributed much of the change at Santa Clara to the APR program overall.
"Coaches know they must put student-athletes in a position to succeed academically," he said. "Administrators know they must provide appropriate resources from which student-athletes may benefit."
Just the kind of culture change the program hoped to create.
