While the APR figures give schools an up-to-date assessment of how they’re doing, the graduation rates are still useful in showing the disparity in the graduation rates between Black and White student-athletes, Lapchick says.

Two-thirds of the bowl-bound schools graduated less than half of their African-American football players. By comparison, 49 percent of the bowl-bound schools failed to have a 50 percent graduation rate overall for those players, according to Lapchick’s report.

Lapchick praised Northwestern University and Boston College for doing the best job of graduating football players. Both teams graduated at least 78 percent of all football student-athletes and at least 74 percent
of African-American football student-athletes.

Two conferences, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East Conference, had every one of their bowl-bound schools receive an APR score higher than 925, and all the teams in both conferences were in the top 25 of APR rankings for bowl-bound schools.

Conversely, all five of the bowl-bound teams in the Pacific 10 scored less than 925.

The NCAA should be aiming to have two-thirds of the schools make the 925 cut when the next round of APR figures are released early next year, Lapchick says.

“I’m really hopeful that the next time the APR scores come out, it will show the expected improvement because of the sanctions that can be imposed on the schools,� Lapchick says. “The APRs have gotten the schools’ notice and attention.�

— Associated Press