![[Table of Contents]](/icons/up.gif){kind=icon}
| Supplemental Instruction (SI): Improving Student Performance and Reducing Attrition. A program to improve academic performance and retention rates for freshmen and sophomore students in high-risk, entry-level college courses. |
Audience Approved by PEP for undergraduate students in high-risk college courses.
Description Supplemental Instruction (SI): Improving Student Performance and Reducing Attrition is a model of student academic assistance used in higher education that targets high-risk courses rather than high-risk students. SI operates on an outreach rather than a drop-in basis in regularly scheduled, out-of-class study sessions held in proximity to the class. Targeted courses have 30% or higher rate of unsuccessful enrollments (D and F grades, as well as withdrawals). The program is nonremedial and available to all students enrolled in a targeted course.
Campus program directors (SI Supervisors) identify, hire, and train students (SI Leaders) who are deemed content-competent by the faculty member teaching the targeted course. These SI Leaders demonstrate "model student behavior" by actively attending all class sessions, taking notes, and reading all assigned material. These SI Leaders schedule and conduct three or four 50-minute SI sessions per week at times indicated convenient by the majority of the enrolled students. SI integrates learning strategies with course content. Using the course content as a vehicle for learning skills development, SI provides opportunities to discuss the vocabulary of the discipline and complex concepts, organize course material, and practice good questioning in an assessment-free environment. Students who participate in SI earn a higher mean course grade than students who do not participate, including those in a motivational control group (students who desire to attend SI but cannot attend because of schedule conflicts). Differences in performance patterns between SI and non-SI groups are evident regardless of past academic performance on their ethnicity. The rates of unsuccessful enrollment (percent of D and F grades and withdrawals) for SI participants are lower than for nonparticipants. Therefore, rates of unsuccessful enrollment in courses where SI is offered are lower than they were prior to the addition of SI.
Evidence of Effectiveness Claim 1: Students participating in SI within the targeted high risk courses earn higher mean final course grades than students who do not participate in SI. This is still true when differences are analyzed, despite ethnicity and prior academic achievement. Claim 2: Despite ethnicity and prior academic achievement, students participating in SI within targeted high risk courses succeed at a higher rate (withdraw at a lower rate and receive a lower percentage of D or F final course grades) than those who do not participate in SI. Claim 3: Students participating in SI persist at the institution (reenrolling and graduating) at higher rates than students who do not participate in SI.
Requirements The SI model is adaptable on a variety of campuses and is compatible with existing academic support programs such as learning or tutoring centers, Student Support Services, and Title III and IV programs. No special equipment is needed for implementation, although some duplication of printed material is helpful. A minimum of one full-time professional staff member is needed to maintain a moderately-sized SI program on campus. Programs targeting a large number of courses may require additional staff.
Costs Implementation costs vary depending upon the availability of existing staff on the adopting campus who can obtain release time for the operation of this program. The adopting institution bears the cost of a three-day training workshop (approximately $300 per day plus travel expenses) for the SI Supervisor. SI Leaders can be compensated through part-time wage funds, internships or work-study arrangements. An SI Leader spends an average of nine to ten hours per week on a three-credit course and earns approximately $750 per 15-week semester. SI Leaders are usually provided the course text and a means of printed materials duplication.
Services The Developer/Demonstrator site will furnish complimentary awareness materials to those desiring more information on the model. Awareness conferences and training workshops are regularly scheduled at the Developer/Demonstrator site. A partial waiver of the training fee may be available to institutions committed to adopting the model. Developer/Demonstrator staff and Certified Trainers are available for on-site consultation and training. (The adopting institution covers honoraria and travel expenses.)
Developmental Funding: University of Missouri-Kansas City.
JDRP No. 81-33 (12/7/81)
Recertified (3/30/92)
-###-
[Adult Performance Level (APL) Program]