Georgetown’s student-athletes are putting up impressive statistics – in the classroom as well as on the field.

Last month the NCAA released scores from its new system for measuring academic success, and Georgetown found itself at the top of the nation.

Based on the NCAA’s new academic performance measurement system – the Academic Progress Rate – Georgetown scored 989 out of a possible 1,000. The national average for Division I schools is 948.

“We take pride in the fact that our student-athletes are graduating at the same rate – sometimes higher – than the general student body. That’s our mission,” Interim Athletic Director Adam Brick said. “We are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing when it comes to academics, and our student-athletes take it very seriously.”

The APR assesses institutions and individual teams based on the academic eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes. It is calculated by awarding two points each semester to scholarship student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility requirements and remain with the university. A team’s total points are then divided by the total points possible to get its APR.

The APR is at the heart of the academic-reform program implemented last year by the NCAA to hold teams accountable and increases academic success and graduation for student-athletes. By providing a more real-time assessment of teams’ performance than the six-year graduation-rate calculation currently provides, the NCAA hopes to give immediate feedback to specific teams and get failing students back on track.

Failing teams, under the new system, are those that fall below the cut score of 925, or the approximate equivalent of a 50 percent federal graduation rate. Teams that fall below the cut score will be subject to contemporaneous penalties, which will take the form of a reduction in the team’s financial aid limit the following year. Teams that consistently fail to meet the 925 score will also be assessed historically-based penalties which will be more punitive.

“For the first time, the NCAA is holding teams and institutions accountable for the academic progress and success of their student-athletes,” NCAA President Myles Brand said in a press release. “The goal of the academic reform package is to reinforce good behavior. The new reforms are tough but fair.”

Georgetown is well above the 925 cut line in every sport. The team closest to the line is women’s basketball with a score of 955, which is one point below the national average. Georgetown also had 10 teams with perfect 1,000 scores.

The sports with the lowest average scores nationally are baseball, football and men’s basketball, with scores of 922 for baseball and 923 for football and basketball. Georgetown is well above both the cut line and national average in all these sports, with scores of 979, 980 and 975 respectively.

The information used to calculate these numbers can be misleading, however, because it is based on statistics from one academic year only. Because of the small sample size, the NCAA will not begin to penalize institutions until next year. Eventually penalties will be based on a four-year rolling rate.

“APR is just another measure of assessment,” Brick said. “For us, it is probably going to be used in combination with all the other tools that we currently use. It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out, but we anticipate and expect that our teams will all be over 925.”

According to university spokeswoman Julie Bataille, Georgetown awards 90 scholarships to student-athletes. In a January interview, University President John J. DeGioia defended the university’s athletic program.

“Every one of [Georgetown’s student-athletes], every single one of them, is capable of being admitted here and of doing the work here, no exception,” DeGioia said. “Our record of graduation of scholarship athletes is superb. We are always at the very [top] of the country.”