The University of Alabama’s famed Crimson Tide football team is having another SEC championship season on the field and has earned a bid to the College Football Playoff, but it is the team’s performance in the classroom that is garnering attention this week.
The No. 2-ranked Crimson Tide are also ranked No. 6 academically, according to a new study by Washington, D.C.-based think tank New America.
Time Magazine explains the study’s methodology:
New America compiled the rankings by beginning with each school’s football graduation success rate (GSR). The GSR is an NCAA measure that, unlike the federal graduation rate, doesn’t penalize schools for having players who transfer or leave for the pros–as long as those players depart in good academic standing. The higher the school’s graduation success rate, the higher they start out in New America’s rankings.
Schools lose points for graduating football players at different rates than their overall male student body. To compare players to students, New America relied on federal rates, since there’s no GSR for the general population. (Since Navy, ranked no. 21 in football, does not provide a federal rate, the Midshipmen were excluded from these rankings). The bigger the discrepancy, the harsher the penalty. It’s important to note that even if a school graduated football players at higher rates than the overall male student population — six schools in the top 25, Alabama, Baylor, Utah, Oklahoma, Houston, and Tennessee did so — the difference was counted as a penalty. Why? New America does not want to reward schools with low overall graduation rates. In fact, schools got an added bonus for having high overall rates.
The top 15 schools in the New America academic rankings can be found below. To see the full list, head over to Time.com.
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