TROY, N.Y. – The NCAA national office has announced the top academically performing teams in Division I and the women's ice hockey program from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has earned recognition for the third straight season.

Rensselaer's women's team is one of four hockey playing schools with an Academic Progress Rate (APR) – the NCAA's system for measuring academic success for student-athletes and teams – in the top 10 percent. Yale University and Princeton University are the only schools in the country to have both their men's and women's ice hockey teams recognized.

RPI's women's team, which had 12 students on the Dean's List in the Fall of 2009, is coached by John Burke.

Men's and women's ice hockey are Rensselaer's only two Division I sports. Each of the Institute's other 21 sports compete at the Division III level.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete. The APR includes eligibility, retention, and graduation of student-athletes in the calculation and provides a clear picture of the academic culture in each sport.

The APR is calculated by awarding two points each term to student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's total points are then divided by the total points possible to come up with a number.