PRINCETON, N.J. -- With an overall score of 993 on a 1,000-point scale, The Ivy League leads the nation in NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) for the 15th-consecutive season. The League outpaced 31 other NCAA Division I conferences to retain the honor.
The League led NCAA Division I conferences in both the number and percentage of teams honored, with 113 teams and 51 percent. The Patriot League ranked second in total number of teams earning Public Recognition Awards with 95, followed by the Big Ten with 84. By percentage of teams, the Patriot League finished second with 45 percent and the Big East Conference placed third with 39 percent.
As part of the APR, the NCAA established a public recognition program for the top-performing teams in each sport based on their most recent multi-year APR. The Public Recognition Awards are conferred annually to teams with APRs in the top 10 percent of their sport.
Columbia led all Division I schools with a total of 22 squads earning Public Recognition Awards, while Dartmouth and Yale tied for third at 17 programs each. Columbia also led the nation by percentage, with 92 percent of its squads earning recognition. The Lions men's and women's fencing teams were 2-of-10 national championship-winning programs from last year to earn the honor.
Of the 62 teams that have earned Public Recognition Awards in all 15 years of the program, 23 hailed from the Ivy League: Brown baseball, Brown women's fencing, Columbia men's tennis, Dartmouth football, Dartmouth men's golf, Dartmouth women's basketball, Dartmouth women's lacrosse, Dartmouth women's rowing, Dartmouth women's swimming & diving, Dartmouth women's tennis, Harvard baseball, Penn baseball, Penn football, Penn women's golf, Penn softball, Princeton women's golf, Princeton women's lacrosse, Princeton softball, Yale baseball, Yale football, Yale women's gymnastics, Yale women's soccer and Yale softball.
The teams represented 7-of-8 Ivy League schools and 14 different sports.
The Ivy League featured the only three Division I football programs—Dartmouth, Penn and Yale, the only two Division I lacrosse programs—Dartmouth women's lacrosse and Princeton women's lacrosse, and 1-of-3 Division I basketball programs—Dartmouth women's basketball, to receive Public Recognition Awards for the 15th-straight season.
Teams earning Public Recognition Awards increased to 1,380, up by 52 from the previous academic year. APR scores for programs in the top 10 percent ranged from 987 to a perfect 1,000, while the number of teams posting perfect scores ballooned to 1,266.
The APR holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes for each academic term. All teams must earn a four-year average APR of 930 to qualify for NCAA postseason and can face progressive penalties for academic under-performance over time.
APR scores for all NCAA Division I teams will be released on May 19.