Secretary of Education Duncan proposes bans for low grad rates
WASHINGTON — If U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had his way, a dozen of the teams in the men's NCAA basketball tournament would not be eligible to play in it, including top-seeded Kentucky.
Duncan proposes teams with graduation rates of less than 40% be banned from postseason play.
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"That's a low bar," Duncan said Tuesday. "If you can't graduate two out of five of your student-athletes, how serious are you about the academic part of your mission?"
The schools that have men's basketball teams with graduation rates of less than 40% are Arkansas-Pine Bluff (29%), Baylor (36%), California (20%), Clemson (37%), Georgia Tech (38%), Kentucky (31%), Louisville (38%), Maryland (8%), Missouri(36%), New Mexico State (36%), Tennessee (30%) and Washington (29%).
Those figures come from NCAA rates compiled by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. They do not include transfers or players who leave early for the NBA. They do not reflect athletes who will play in the tourney, as they include the most recent four-year classes that have had six years to graduate.
Duncan will participate in a teleconference today with the study's primary author, Richard Lapchick.
The Department of Education cannot impose a 40% solution on NCAA schools, but Duncan said he would use his office to advocate for reform.
"Why do we tolerate the bad apples … when the vast majority are doing things well?" he said. "Everybody sees it. It's out in the open. … And somehow things don't change."
The NCAA uses a formula called the APR that measures school success in retaining athletes, keeping them eligible and graduating them. Penalties include a postseason ban, but that has happened once in Division I