Each of the Canisius' 20 varsity athletic programs are in good standing, while five teams posted perfect single-year scores according to the latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) statistics released Wednesday afternoon by the NCAA.
The latest NCAA APR report is based on scores from the 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 academic years. The five teams to post perfect single-year APR scores for 2014-15 are men's cross country/track, women's cross country/track, golf, hockey and rowing. Those five Golden Griffin teams were publicly honored by the NCAA last week for being among the top-10 percent in APR.
In all, 14 of Canisius' 20 teams scored 980 or better out of a possible 1,000 points. Additionally, 11 programs posted either identical or better scores from the previous APR release.
This is the fifth-straight time the golf team has been honored by the NCAA and this year's acknowledgement marks the fourth consecutive public recognition award for the men's cross country/track program. The women's cross country/track team made the public recognition list for the third time since 2004-05 and this is the third-straight year the school's rowing program has been honored by the public recognition award initiative. The hockey team, which earned its first public recognition award last week, is one of just three Division I hockey programs to earn a perfect score for the 2014-15 academic year.
Each year, the NCAA honors selected Division I sports teams by publicly recognizing their latest multiyear APR. This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams who demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top-10 percent of all squads in each sport.
ABOUT ACADEMIC PROGRESS RATES (APR)
The APR provides a real-time metric established by the NCAA to measure the success or failure of college athletic teams in moving student-athletes towards graduation. College athletics programs that fail to achieve an APR score of 930 (four-year average) -- equivalent to a 50 percent graduation rate -- may be penalized with the loss of scholarships and postseason play. APR is calculated by allocating points for eligibility and retention each semester. Sports are graded on a four-year average, while the APR also calculates a single-year average. Only the four-year APR metric can result in NCAA penalties.
