Ohio State Athletics Scores Well in APR

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The publication of the most recent multi-year (2004-2008) NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores for The Ohio State University reveals a strong and continuing commitment to the academic progress of its student-athletes.

The institution supports 36 sports programs and 34 of these teams are tracked by the APR metric (synchronized swimming/pistol are not), which takes into account the academic eligibility and retention of aided student-athletes (maximum possible score of 1,000).

All but one of Ohio State's sports maintained a multi-year average APR score of greater than 925. Several (men's tennis, baseball, women's basketball, and women's cross country) were recently honored as being in the Top 10 percent in the respective sports' national APR rankings. An APR score below 925 is indicative of difficulties with academic progress.

Men's basketball, Ohio State's only program with an APR score of less than 925, has experienced annual increases in its APR mulit-year scores in each of the past three years (902, 909, 911). The program has been penalized two scholarships for the 2009-10 season but is making strides.

Ohio State's Student Athlete Support Services Office has implemented several strategies designed to reach a qualifying score, David Graham, SASSO director, said. Those include assigning a sport specific academic counselor to men's basketball, traveling the academic counselor with the team during mid-week trips to oversee study table on game days and scheduling mandatory meetings with student-athletes and their respective college advisors on a quarterly basis.

"The overall degree of academic success within our athletics programs is a collective measure of the determination of our student-athletes, the value systems of our coaches and the quality academic support provided by SASSO," John Bruno, Ohio State psychology professor and faculty athletics representative, said.

SEE: ncaa.org