April 24, 2008

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri is one of 35 Division I women's basketball programs honored by the NCAA with a Public Recognition Award for high Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores, released on Thursday by the NCAA. The Public Recognition Awards are given to individual sport teams that have an Academic Progress Rate (APR) in the top 10 percent of their respective sport.

Missouri was the only school from the Big 12 Conference honored and joins DePaul, Ohio State, Stanford and Washington as the only schools from Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences to earn the Public Recognition Award.

The NCAA created the APR Public Recognition Award last year to honor Division I sports teams for their multi-year success in the Academic Progress Rate scores. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 965 to a perfect 1,000, according to NCAA President Myles Brand.

Multi-year APR scores for all 6,110 Division I sports teams, including the teams receiving public recognition awards, will be announced May 6.