Iowa universities show improvement in NCAA academic report

IOWA CITY - After years of languishing below the NCAA's minimum standard to track academic progress, Iowa State's men's basketball program took a significant leap forward.

The Cyclones' men's basketball program soared by 29 points to a multi-year score of 936 in the 2009-10 calendar year, its highest in the NCAA's six years of tracking those statistics. Iowa State was below the NCAA's minimum threshold of 925 each of the other five years and was subjected to two lost scholarships in 2006.

The NCAA released those statistics on Tuesday.

“We are certainly very proud of the hard work by our student-athletes in the classroom and our nearly across-the-board improvement in APR scores is noteworthy,” Iowa State Senior Associate AD for Student Services David Harris said in a statement. “Certainly, the work is never complete as it relates to academic performance but this data is an indicator of improvement and we're pleased with that.”

The NCAA calculates each school's APR by tracking real-time eligibility, retention and graduation rates for scholarship student-athletes on a four-year average. Each athlete can earn up to two points each semester, one by staying eligible and another by staying with the institution.

Each school is required to score at least 925 or become subject to penalties, including lost scholarships.

Iowa State saw either maintenance or improvement in 17 of its 18 sports.

Each of the University of Iowa's 24 sports met or exceeded the NCAA's requirement of 925. Iowa's men's basketball program scored 925, up from 915 in the 2008-09 calendar year. The program's multi-year rate is 939.

Northern Iowa's twice-penalized men's cross country program scored a perfect 1000 to bring its multi-year average to 885. It was the only program of the four universities to have a multi-year score below the NCAA's minimum threshold in multi-year rate of 925. UNI twice suffered partial scholarship losses in 2008 and 2009 because of its low APR.

Drake University also met the NCAA standard in each of its 18 sports.