May 6, 2008

BERKELEY - Each of the University of California's 25 NCAA-sponsored athletic programs exceeded the required minimum score on the 2006-07 Academic Progress Rate (APR) report announced Tuesday, with 14 sports showing gains from last year's figures.

"To continue to improve our scores each year is a rightful source of great pride not only for our student-athletes, but for the coaches and staff who support them," Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour said. "It is a testament to the everyday commitment to achieve at the highest levels in the classroom."

The APR was developed by the NCAA to gauge schools' academic accountability and provides a "real-time" snapshot of academic success each semester by looking at the current progress of every student-athlete. Now in its fourth year, the APR measures the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes competing on each team, in addition to serving as a predictor of graduation success.

To earn a satisfactory grade, teams must have an APR of at least 925 on a scale of 1-1000, and teams that score below 925 can be subject to loss of scholarships. The scores are based on a multi-year rate that averages scores from the past four full academic years.

Of Cal's 14 programs that improved from 2005-06, nine teams had their averages jump at least five points. Women's water polo showed the largest increase, +26 points, while volleyball rose 11 points, and women's basketball and men's gymnastics went up nine points each.

Football (967), baseball (971), women's soccer (991) and volleyball (990) all ranked in the 80th to 90th percentile, meaning their scores were higher than at least 80 percent of other teams in their respective sports. Other teams that scored 990 or higher were women's gymnastics (990), lacrosse (991) and women's rowing (995). In addition, both football and baseball ranked second in the Pac-10 in their APR scores.

Last year, Cal also had all of its programs surpass the NCAA minimum, with football, baseball, women's soccer and softball all ranking in the 80th percentile.

More information on APR scores can be found on the NCAA website, ncaa.org, while Cal's report is listed here.