June 14, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- A total of seven athletic teams at The University of Texas have earned Public Recognition Awards for their latest multi-year NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR), the NCAA announced Thursday. These teams include: baseball, men's basketball, men's tennis, women's tennis, women's indoor track and field, women's outdoor track and field and volleyball.

The awards are given each year to teams scoring in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sport, based on their most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rates. The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. Top-performing APRs this year ranged from 978 to a perfect 1,000, with the majority of teams earning a perfect APR. The number of teams in some sports may exceed 10 percent, depending on the number of perfect scores.

"These teams prove that it is possible to not only balance academic and athletic commitment, as most student-athletes do, but to exceed standards and post outstanding academic scores," NCAA President Mark Emmert said. "The drive and determination shown in the classroom and on the field by these men and women represent what it means to be an NCAA student-athlete."

The NCAA tracks the classroom performance of student-athletes on every Division I sports team through its innovative APR, which provides an annual scorecard of academic achievement. The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation in the calculation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance.

Full multi-year APRs for all Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards and penalties for low-performing teams, will be announced on June 20.