The NCAA recognized 15 of Northwestern’s 19 varsity sports as part of its Academic Progress Rate program, the athletic department announced Wednesday.

The Wildcats led all Football Bowl Subdivision schools by having 79 percent of their teams honored with public recognition awards, edging out peer institutions Notre Dame (65 percent), Stanford (61 percent) and Duke (58 percent), and also besting Big Ten foe Minnesota (56 percent). Only Dartmouth ranked higher among all Division I programs by having 93 percent of its teams awarded.

Fifteen teams receiving awards is both a school and conference record. NU has led the Big Ten in the number of athletic programs awarded since the creation of APR during the 2004-2005 academic year.

“The ability of our young men and women to continually raise the bar when it comes to academic achievement is nothing short of remarkable,” athletic director Jim Phillips said in a news release. “This is a tremendous compliment to our student-athletes.”

The teams honored are football, baseball, field hockey, men’s golf, softball, cross country, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s swimming, women’s tennis, men’s soccer, men’s tennis, wrestling, women’s golf and volleyball.

The last five teams — men’s soccer, men’s tennis, wrestling, women’s golf and volleyball — have received public recognition awards each of the 10 years they have been given.

The honor reflects the NCAA’s APR metric, which measure a team’s ability to maintain the eligibility of players, and retain and graduate team members. Squads awarded are those in the top 10 percent of their sport.

APR scores for all Division I sports teams will be released May 27.

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