A student athlete performance evaluation audit revealed two University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee teams received perfect scores in the NCAA’s 2005 Academic Progress Report and showed athletes graduating at nearly double the rate of other students.

The news congratulating 10 teams in Wisconsin for perfect scores, including UWM women’s volleyball and tennis, was part of a University of Wisconsin Board of Regents audit titled, “Academic performance standards in NCAA Division I and II UW athletic coaches’ contracts and performance evaluation.”

The Annual Progress Rate (APR), initiated in the 2003-’04 academic year, came as one part of a new academic program aimed at boosting athletes’ performances in the classroom, as well as their graduation rates, the NCAA Web site stated.

The evaluation is based on a 1,000-point scale, which is used to determine the fate of each program. Each student athlete is awarded two points each semester, one for eligibility and one for retention to the school. These points are added together, divided by the maximum points possible, and then multiplied by 1,000 to get the team’s score.

If teams do not meet the 925-point cutoff line, penalties could include aid cuts, restrictions on recruitment and access to postseason competition, and membership removal from the NCAA for teams that consistently fail to meet academic requirements, the regents’ report indicated.

The report revealed the University of Wisconsin’s football team was the only team in the UW System to score below the cutoff, but it was not sanctioned due to insufficient data.

According to Steve Lautz, UWM compliance coordinator, the new APR system is more effective than the previous system because it enables administrators to look at academic progress on a semester basis rather than once annually.

The regents’ audit also shows the rate that student athletes graduate. For the six-year graduation rates for incoming freshman from 1998-’99, the graduation rate for all UWM students was 37 percent, while student athletes graduated at 73 percent. However, according to UWM's 05-06 common data set from 1999 new students, 42 percent of all students graduated in six years or less.

The figures do not reflect a number of factors. The data only looks at students who finish within the six-year period and makes no allowance for students who take time off and then return to earn their degrees.

These high standards are intended to reinforce the importance of a college education. Pointing to a picture of the 2005-’06 team participating in the Horizon League Championship, the UWM men’s basketball head coach named at least six players that have earned degrees since then.

“We are teachers,” said UWM men’s basketball head coach Rob Jeter. “Our main goal is to educate.”

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