Columbia, Mo. - The NCAA member colleges and universities have adopted a comprehensive academic reform package designed to improve the academic success and graduation of all student-athletes.

The centerpiece of the academic reform package is the development of a new academic measurement for sports teams, known as the Academic Progress Rate, or APR.

The NCAA released today the initial numbers for the Academic Progress Rate. The numbers are based solely on data taken from the 2003-04 academic year, and serve only as an example of what schools' reports would look like.

The APR, and any potential penalties incurred by schools, will go into effect this fall, after data has been collected for the current 2004-05 academic year. The APR eventually will be comprised of four years of APR data. The APR score initially used to implement contemporaneous penalties in fall 2005 will be based on two years of APR data (i.e., 2003-04 and 2004-05). Beginning in fall 2007, the APR will be based on four years of data (i.e., 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07). Every year thereafter, the most current year's data will be added and the oldest year of data will be removed, creating a four-year rolling rate.

Today's initial report shows that 16 of Mizzou's 20 intercollegiate athletic sports meet the 925 cut mark for APR, meaning they would face no scholarship sanctions in the fall were these the sole numbers used for the report. Of the remaining four sports that did not meet the 925 mark, three of those fell within the confidence boundary, or a "cushion" in layman's terms, that means they would not face penalties based on their numbers. That gives MU 19 of its 20 sport programs that would not face sanctions in the fall based on these numbers alone. Again, this data is only for one year and penalties will not be in place until data from the 04-05 year is included, as well.

"In all, I think you have to be pleased with the numbers that we've established initially," said Associate Athletic Director for Academics Bryan Maggard. "This is a very new and detailed method of tracking academic progress, and I know there are a lot of people who aren't going to fully understand what these numbers mean right now. The bottom line is that we feel very good that we would not be impacted greatly based on these numbers, and while we want to be a perfect 20-for-20, I do think that's a great start," he said.

Other things Maggard noted were that MU's APR for all 20 sports combined was 943, which was above the national average of 938 for public institutions, and very much in line with the Division I-A (schools with Division I-A football programs) average of 944. The rate for all Division I schools came in at 948, while private institutions had an average APR of 965.

Mizzou's APR report numbers are available for viewing via PDF documents that are located for download on this page.

For more information on APR and what it means, please click here visit the NCAA's official website.

A good article that helps explain the concept was also recently published in the NCAA News, and fans are encouraged to view that by clicking here.