The Effect of Supplemental Instruction on Undergraduate Class Grade, Grade Point Average and Retention

Abstract

Graduating from college in four years is still the most optimal arrangement for today’s student (Neuman, 2013). Currently, there are many programs that claim to support these students to succeed academically and in a timely manner (Hodges, 2001). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an academic support program identified as Supplemental Instruction impacted student class grade, grade point average and retention within an academic year in three distinctive college freshman classes: Biology, Education and Spanish. An analysis was conducted to determine if there was a difference between the students that utilized Supplemental Instruction and the students that chose not to utilize Supplemental Instruction. The null hypothesis was used in this study. The results did not find a significant difference between the treatment and non-treatment groups. Thus, the null hypothesis was retained. Further research should utilize a larger sample size and a pre-determined amount of sessions.