In the wake of news that the fourth year of Academic Progress Rate data may be more positive than anticipated, the Committee on Academic Performance continued to discuss the impact of transfer student-athletes on the APR and to what extent that impact can be mitigated. The committee met Thursday and will continue its discussion of the issue today.

The CAP learned Thursday that while data from the 2006-07 year were not yet finalized, early results showed that about15 to 20 percent of men’s basketball, football and baseball teams could be subject to penalties, down significantly from initial estimates of up to 35 to 40 percent. The fourth year of data is the first in which most teams will no longer receive the squad-size adjustment, which gave teams the benefit of the doubt when the data set was not large enough to be statistically certain of a team's academic performance.

Another potential bright spot in the data is a significant reduction in the proportion of low-resource institutions that are subject to penalty -- from 30 to 40 percent of all teams penalized in previous years to possibly 10 to 12 percent this year.

NCAA Vice President for Membership Services Kevin Lennon said the progress was likely due to an increased emphasis on improvement and improvement plans; CAP's implementation of greater flexibility when judging improvement for adjustment purposes; a legislative change that requires transfers to be eligible at their previous institution to receive financial aid at their next institution; and actual numerical improvement in a number of teams.

With this information in hand, the committee continued to consider data regarding transfer student-athletes, including information about the number of student-athletes who transfer in specific sports and the grade-point averages they have when transferring. Committee members expressed twin desires to be fair in the application of the APR and to see more student-athletes graduate.

Continuing discussions centered on the academic profile of transferring student-athletes, whether the student-athlete was eligible at the time of transfer, immediate enrollment at another four-year institution and whether a "year in residence" must be served.

The committee will continue discussions today and could finalize a recommendation for the Division I Board of Directors meeting on Monday.

In addition, the committee discussed the historically based penalty structure, specifically the "occasion four" penalty, which requires an entire institution to go into restricted membership if a single team has been sanctioned four consecutive years.

The original architects of the structure designed the final stage of historically based penalties to be punitive, though they believed they would rarely be used. However, some institutions will be sanctioned for a second straight year (the historically based structure took effect last year), and many CAP members noted the significant impact of restricted membership. The committee requested further information and will discuss the issue again at its April meeting.

Other highlights

Division I Committee on Academic Performance

January 10/Nashville

• Decided that the second and third year of historically based penalties must be applied together and in the academic year after notification. This will ensure two things: that the institution has the opportunity to exhaust the entire appeals process before taking the penalty and that the penalty has the appropriate impact. The decision also allows for consistent application of penalties.
• Heard an update on the work of the Basketball Academic Enhancement Working Group subcommittees. The full group will meet Tuesday for the first time since last summer.
• Learned that in early APR data, about 50 percent of men's basketball teams showed improvement. Among baseball teams, about 60 percent showed improvement and about 65 percent of football teams improved.