Student-athletes at Missouri Valley Conference institutions demonstrated excellent performance in the classroom based on the most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) data, released on Tuesday, June 4, by the NCAA. A league all-time best 42 teams were among those who received public recognition awards for top academic performance from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

This announcement is part of the overall Division I academic reform effort and is intended to highlight teams that demonstrate a commitment to academic progress and retention of student-athletes by achieving the top APRs within their respective sports. Specifically, these teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.
 
Belmont, Drake and Valparaiso had a league-best six programs that posted perfect multi-year APR scores of 1000.  The score measures eligibility and retention and provides a snapshot of academic success for each sport.  The MVC's top performing sport was golf, with six men's programs and six women's programs earning scores of 1000.  This marks the third straight year Valpo has led the MVC (either tied or outright) in number of teams with perfect APR scores. 

Each academic year, every Division I sports team’s APR is calculated using a simple and consistent formula. Scholarship student-athletes can earn 1 point for staying on course for a degree in their chosen major and 1 point for being retained (or graduating) at the end of each academic term. For schools that do not offer athletics scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.  The Academic Performance Program has established an essential framework for academic excellence. The program provides measurable goals to ensure schools are fulfilling their commitment of equipping student-athletes with the tools and resources necessary to achieve academic success.

The most recent APRs are multi-year rates based on scores from the 2019–2020, 2020–2021, 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 academic years.  APRs for each team are available online through the NCAA's searchable database.  Click Here

The four-year Academic Progress Rate national average for all NCAA Division I teams remained steady at 984 this year, as the division marked the 20th anniversary of APR data collection. During those 20 years, overall student-athlete academic success has risen substantially.  Compared with the four-year period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (2015-16 through 2018-19), the overall national four-year average across all sports increased one point.