1. Introduction to the Division I Academic Performance Program (APP)
Andy Louthain
Katy Yurk

2. Overview Academic Reform Background.
NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program (APP).
Data Collection Program.
APP Penalties.
NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR).
APR Improvement Plan.
APP Waivers.
Resources.

3. Academic Reform Background
“The need for competitiveness and the interest in winning must be coupled with a commitment to assist and encourage student-athletes to succeed academically. It is not competitiveness or academic success. It must be both.”
-Dr. Myles Brand, 2008 State of the Association Speech

4. Academic Reform as a "Package"
Student-athlete accountability through increased academic-eligibility standards.
Enhanced academic rates of measure, real- time rate and better graduation rate.
Team performance accountability through contemporaneous and historical penalties.
Department of athletics academic accountability through historical penalties.

5. Academic Reform as a “Package” (continued)
Focus on campus efforts to improve academic performance, retention and graduation for all teams. 
Recognition of academically high-achieving teams.
ALL components critical to overall academic improvement.

6. Academic Reform Cycle Implementation Research Standards
New "Seamless" Model for Eligibility
Initial Eligibility
Progress-toward-degree
Research
Standards
Rates of Measure
Federal Graduation Rate
Informs policy decisions
Implementation
Implementation
Penalties
Immediate
Long Term
Incentives
Public Recognition
Graduation
Success Rate (GSR)
NCAA Division I
Academic
Progress Rate
(APR)

7. APP Purpose
Ensure the Division I membership is dedicated to providing student-athletes:
Exemplary educational and intercollegiate athletics experiences;
Environments that recognize and support academic mission of member institutions; and
Enhanced ability to earn a four-year degree.
NCAA Division I Bylaw

8. NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance
Duties:
Administrative body for APP.
Oversee data collection process.
Identify APP "cut" lines.
Provide interpretations of APP legislation and policies.

9. Committee on Academic Performance
Duties (continued):
Communicate annual APP rates (APR and GSR).
Identify teams demonstrating academic excellence under the APP.
Serve as the appellate body for APP Policies and Penalties.
Bylaw

10. APP Data Collection

11. Academic Performance Program Data Collection
GSR.
APR.
Academic Performance Census (APC).

12. Graduation Success Rate
Why the GSR?
More accurate than Federal Graduation Rate.
Includes transfers into an institution.
Includes midyear enrollees.
Remove student-athletes who withdraw and would have been academically eligible to compete the next term had they returned.
Calculated for every sport.

13. Graduation Success Rate
Data is submitted electronically (attend APP Data Collection session for more details).
Data is used in analysis for APP penalty waivers.
Failure to submit will result in an institution being declared ineligible for postseason competition, including NCAA championships and bowl games.

14. Graduation Success Rate
Due not later than June 1.
Required of Division I member institutions for ALL sponsored sports.
Divisions II and III member institutions that sponsor a Division I sport (multidivisional classification) must complete data for Division I sport(s).
This year collecting freshman cohort data.

15. Graduation Success Rate
What’s new:
New Graduation Rates Data Collection Portal.
Place to enter GSR and Federal Graduation Rate information.
Change to transfer cohort placement.
Beginning with the 2003 cohort.
Transfer student-athletes placed in freshman cohort based on the year they entered ANY college full time.

16. Academic Progress Rate
Why APR?
Real-time rate.
Includes all student-athletes on a team in a given year (as opposed to entering class).
Includes student-athletes receiving athletically related financial aid; or
For nonscholarship programs/teams, a subset of recruited student-athletes.

17. Academic Progress Rate
Points awarded for eligibility/graduation and retention.
Term-by-term measurement.
Totaled over most recent four years.
Used in analysis for contemporaneous and historical penalties and public recognition of top academically performing teams.

18. Academic Progress Rate
Two available points each academic term.
Eligibility “E” point = student-athlete meets academic eligibility standards for the next academic term.
Retention “R” point = student-athlete is enrolled full time as of the fifth week of classes of the next term.
Number of points earned
number of points possible X = APR

19. Academic Progress Rate
Due date for APR data is six weeks after the institution's first day of classes of the fall term.
Failure to submit will result in an institution being declared ineligible for postseason competition, including NCAA championships and bowl games.
Data is submitted electronically for any team:
With Division I championships or National Collegiate Championships;
Considered to be Division I; and
Classified as varsity at a Division I institution.

20. Academic Performance Census
Why APC?
Academic data for NCAA research purposes. 
Data informs academic policies. 
Information is completed and submitted online using the APP Data Collection Program.
Failure to submit will result in an institution being declared ineligible for postseason competition, including NCAA championships and bowl games.

21. Delayed-Graduation Points
Point “1/0” awarded in the term the former student-athlete graduates.
Restores lost APR “E” or “R” point from last term student-athlete was in the cohort.
Point received in the sport reported.
Permitted to request delayed-graduation points for any academic year cohort that comprise the multiyear APR cohort.

22. Delayed-Graduation Points
Criteria are as follows:
Student-athlete graduates from your institution or later.
Former student-athlete was not included in the team's APR cohort in the term in which he or she graduated from your institution.
Former student-athlete lost the "E" or "R" point in his or her last term in the APR cohort or would have lost a point if the student-athlete departed prior to the implementation of the APR in

23. APR Adjustments
Discount lost APR point(s) for a term or terms from the denominator.
May request adjustment to lost "E" point, lost "R" point or both.
Requests are based on mitigation affecting individual student-athletes.

24. Adjustment Review Process
Guiding principles:
Circumstances surrounding individual student-athlete.
Are circumstances beyond the control of the student- athlete and/or team/institution?
Decisions/Appeals:
Initial decision by staff.
Appeals to the NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance Subcommittee on Data Collection and Reporting.

25. Academic Progress Rate
What’s new:
More automatic adjustments:
Missed term exception.
Medical absence waiver.
Head coaches information for all sports going back to
Expands on the six sports collected fall 2009.

26. APP Process Timeline Data Submission Phase (due six weeks
after first day of classes).
Verification
Phase
(NCAA staff).
Correction
Phase
(14 calendar days). Penalty reports available in APP system after corrections.
Penalty Waiver
Phase
(14 to 21 calendar days
to submit).
APR Adjustment
Phase
(14 calendar days to submit).
Final Submit
( sent to chancellor/president).

27. APP Penalties

28. APP Penalties Two different penalty structures:
Contemporaneous penalties.
Intended to encourage improved academic performance, serve as a "warning" for poorly performing teams and help avoid the more serious historical penalties (e.g., rehabilitative in nature).
Historical penalties.
More significant punitive measure for teams that habitually underperform academically.

29. Squad-Size Adjustment
Helps ensure that any penalties given to teams with small sample sizes are as statistically valid as those for teams with large sample sizes.
Statistical adjustment for squad size available for:
Teams with fewer than 30 student-athletes in a four- year cohort; or
Teams with fewer than four years make up the multiyear APR for the team.

30. Contemporaneous Penalties
Team's maximum financial aid limit is reduced by the value of total countable aid awarded to the student-athlete who did not earn eligibility and was not retained the following academic year “0/2”.
Penalties must be taken at the “next available opportunity.”

31. Contemporaneous Penalties
Teams with a multiyear APR below 925 subject to contemporaneous penalties if:
Any student-athlete departed the institution; and
Did not earn eligibility “0/2”.
Some exceptions apply (e.g., student-athlete with no athletics eligibility remaining).
Aid awarded to an “0/2” cannot be re-awarded.

32. Contemporaneous Penalty Caps
Contemporaneous penalties are meant to be "attention-getting" penalties.
Thus, number of contemporaneous penalties that apply to a team for any given year is capped.
Cap = approximately 10 percent of NCAA maximum team limit, rounded up for head-count sports.
Example: Men’s basketball
13 maximum scholarships
10 percent of 13 is 1.3
10 percent cap is rounded up to two head count scholarships.

33. Historical Penalties
Restrict or deny the benefits of the Association for those teams that have a demonstrated history of academic underachievement.
Teams that habitually underperform academically are the primary target of the historical-penalty structure.

34. Historical Penalties Teams with a multiyear APR below 900.
Penalties are progressive and cumulative in nature.
Institutions must demonstrate three "clean" years (without penalty) in order to avoid progression in the historical-penalty structure.

35. Historical-Penalty Structure
Progressive and cumulative:
Occasion-One: Public announcement for squad.
Occasion-Two: Public announcement AND financial aid and practice restrictions for squad.
Occasion-Three: Public announcement AND financial aid and practice restrictions (including season and contest restrictions for baseball) AND postseason competition restriction for squad.
Occasion-Four: Public announcement AND financial aid and practice restrictions (including season and contest restrictions for baseball) AND postseason competition restriction for squad AND restricted membership status for institution.

36. Historical Penalty Improvement Plus Model
Teams scoring below 900 are reviewed for historical penalties to determine if they:
Are making significant improvement, which is determined with a single-year APR at or above 900 in the most recent year and meeting one of five tests:
Most recent single-year APR vs. previous single-year APR.
Most recent single-year APR vs. multiyear APR for previous two years.
Most recent single-year APR vs. multiyear APR for previous three years.
Multiyear APR from years three and four vs. multiyear APR from years one and two.
Multiyear APR from years two, three and four vs. initial single- year APR.
PLUS….

37. Historical Penalty Improvement Plus Model
Compare favorably based on one of the following three factors…
By-sport review: Team must be above the bottom 10 percent of team APR within that sport.
Institutional characteristics: Comparison of institutional, athletics and student-body resource levels to identify the bottom 10 percent of schools in overall financial resources.
Comparison vs. general student-body: Team’s multiyear APR must project to a Federal Graduation Rate that is 10 or more percentage points higher than the general student-body rate.

38. APR Improvement Plans Required for:
Teams with a multiyear APR below 925 without the use of the squad-size adjustment (on campus).
Teams with multiyear APR below 900 (must submit).
Teams requesting relief from an APP penalty (must submit).
Teams identified as eligible for the NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program Supplemental Support Fund (SSF) (must submit).
Feedback provided to all institutions submitting plans to the national office.

39. APR Improvement Plans Tips:
Use your data to learn what the issues are.
Develop a plan to address the team’s specific issues.
Develop goals in order to measure success.
Clearly identify timelines and responsible parties.

40. APP Penalty Waivers

41. APP Penalty Waiver Portal
On the NCAA Web site, go to
Username = institution's or conference's sports sponsorship username.
Password = sports sponsorship password.
Different than APP Data Collection Program username and password.
Click the Login button.

42. APP Penalty Waiver Directive
Guiding principles:
Based on team's academic performance.
Review of historical-penalty factors.
Anomaly or pattern.
Reasonable expectation to improve to 925 within a reasonable period of time.
APR Improvement Plan.
For a delay, verification that the penalty cannot be taken as prescribed.

43. APP Penalty Waiver Process
Contemporaneous Occasion-One and -Two Historical Penalty:
Initial decision by staff.
Appeals to the NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance Subcommittee on Appeals.
Occasion-Three and –Four Historical Penalty :
Initial review by staff; staff may approve or conditionally approve (full or partial).
In-person hearings in February and April in front of Committee on Academic Performance.
Opportunity to appeal to a subcommittee of the Division I Board of Directors.

44. APP Penalty Waiver Decisions
Full relief of penalty.
Partial relief of penalty (e.g., relief from scholarship penalty but not practice penalty).
Conditional relief of penalty (full or partial).
Delay in application of penalty.

45. Resources

46. Where can I get more information?
NCAA Staff:
Andrew Cardamone,
APR Improvement Plans.
Jeremiah Carter,
Head Coaches’ APR Portfolio.
Maria DeJulio,
GSR and Integrated Postsecondary-Education Data System; data-related issues and data correction requests.
Andrew Louthain,
Occasion-Three and -Four Historical Penalty waivers.
APP data reviews.

47. Where can I get more information?
NCAA Staff:
Binh Nguyen,
APR adjustments; APR and GSR deadline extensions; reinstatement for NCAA championships; requests for alternative definition of cohort.
Bill Regan,
Educational initiatives; Occasion-Three and -Four Historical Penalties.
Katy Yurk,
Contemporaneous and Occasion-One and -Two Historical Penalty waivers.

48. Where can I get more information?
Bylaw 23.
NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance Policies and Procedures Manual.
NCAA Division I APP Data Collection Guide.
NCAA Division I APP Penalties Guide.
All available on the Committee on Academic Performance Website.

49. Recap Academic Reform Background. APP Data Collection. APP Penalties.
APP Waivers
Resources.

50. Questions?