Abstract

One goal of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is to hold its member colleges and universities accountable for the academic success of its student-athletes. Approximately ten years ago, the Association introduced the Academic Progress Rate (APR), a real time measure of how well each collegiate team was doing in terms of keeping its student-athletes eligible and in school working towards a degree. However, this measure has been controversial from its inception as critics allege that schools with sufficient resources can “game the system” and that low resource schools, including historically black universities and colleges, are at a disadvantage compared to schools with greater resources. This study examines the APR scores of all Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams during the 2010-11 thru 2013-14 seasons in conjunction with how well these teams performed on the basketball court during this same time period. The results indicate that both men’s and women’s teams that were the most successful on the basketball court were also the teams that had the highest multi-year APR scores. Implications and possible reasons for these results are discussed as well as the NCAA’s contention that the APR is a valid measure of academic success.