The Florida State football team improved its academic progress rate (APR) score.  The 'Noles scored a 932, which is up from the 927 score a year ago.  The score is a multi-year average, the most recent of which is the fall '09- spring '10. score FSU will not face any penalties.  This score is the last measure of the Bobby Bowden era.

The reality of the poorly-designed APR, however, is that there is no "good" or "bad" APR.  There is just penalty or non-penalty.  And FSU is not in the penalty.

Jimbo Fisher has made many significant changes to academics since taking over, but those changes will not show up in full until next year.

But you may be able to see some progress already as FSU's single-year score was 956, way higher than the 932 average.  The average is clearly being dragged down by the end of the lost decade.

Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year, based on the eligibility and retention of each scholarship student-athlete. Teams scoring below certain thresholds can face penalties, such as scholarship losses and restrictions on practice and competition. Rates are based on the past four years’ performance.

FSU's score is quite low. This is a result of a coaching change, poor understanding of the APR by the previous adminsitration, attrition, the need to recruit players with marginal academics in order to get some athletic talent on the team during the last of the Bowden years, and oh yeah, the academic cheating scandal of 2007.

These scores are for the fall '09-spring '10 academic year, meaning next year's scores will reflect Jimbo Fisher's first full-year with the team.   

The data is here.