STEPHENVILLE – Following the latest release of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR), Tarleton State University continues to thrive in the classroom and maintains its elite standard in the second year of reclassification.
 
With two years now on the Division I ledger, Tarleton maintained its 976 multiyear APR score and recorded a 987 single year APR score in 2021-22. In addition to the overall scores, seven individual programs secured perfect 1,000 APR scores: men's and women's cross country, women's golf, men's and women's track and field, tennis, and softball. Four of the seven programs have now recorded back-to-back 1,000 APR scores in each of Tarleton's first two years of reclassification (softball, women's cross country, women's golf, and tennis).
 
"Our top priority since we made the move to NCAA Division I has always been compliance and academics," said Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reisman. "Our coaches, staff, and student-athletes have continued making this a priority every day. We set an incredible standard with our record scores as a first-year program and I'm ecstatic to see the same dedication in our second year.
 
"We have shown a first-class dedication to academics," he continued. "We opened a new, top-of-the-line facility in our Academic Success Center our athletics support staff has been incredible. We have a tremendous group of dedicated faculty and staff working very hard to support our student-athletes," he continued.
 
The APR, created to be a more real-time measurement of academic success than graduation rates, is a team-based metric in which scholarship student-athletes earn one point each term for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school, graduating, or transferring to another school while meeting eligibility standards. Every Division I sports team calculates its Academic Progress Rate each academic year, and the NCAA reports both single-year rates and four-year rates.
 
Teams must compile a multi-year score of 930 or higher to avoid penalties, including losing eligibility to compete in NCAA postseason championships.
 
The most recent score continues an elite standard set by Tarleton Athletics last year. Tarleton set an unprecedented benchmark in its first year at Division I with a score that has since been adjusted to 990. That score was and remains the highest of first-year reclassifying schools since 2011 – excluding those whose began in 2019 or 2020 due to COVID-19's delay in the publicity of the scores. Prior to 2019, the highest score of a first-year reclassifying school since 2011 was 977 by UMass-Lowell in 2013-14.