4 The Expansion of Academic Coaching
The committee urges the administration to consider the expansion of Academic Coaching and the opportunities this could provide for student success. Academic Coaching is a solution to providing individual support based on the student’s needs, and, if approached correctly, can help reduce stigma for support due to the proactive nature of outreach and also has the opportunity to build stronger ties to campus. Providing this service to everyone would also help close gaps and give students who don’t qualify for a specific program (TRIO, KPACE, etc.) a place to go for additional academic support.
Currently, Kirkwood staffs one academic coach for online students, managing contact with over 2,000 students per semester. Even within this limited capacity, we have seen a statistically significant decrease in non-attendance withdrawal rates without an increase in course failure.
More students are staying in their classes and passing them. Since 2018, the Current Student Survey has asked students what they would do differently if they could start the semester over, response trends indicate the “need to study more, manage time better, and change courses or program selections sooner.”
This feedback is consistent with informal student feedback provided to Academic Coaches. Students have shared they appreciate having this connection to campus for support. Feedback from our students currently working with an academic coach supports the student’s desire to have coaching for their in-person classes, along with the desire to have in-person workshops to build on academic skills. Faculty and other staff have also expressed a need for in-person academic coaches to have this support available to all students.
Schools that provide this support either through an Academic Success Center or partnered with tutoring see greater student success rates. A comprehensive study published in the Journal of Innovative Higher Education concludes that in terms of performance and retention, the academically at-risk student population has found promise in the relational intervention provided by an on-campus academic coach. More specifically, it was indicated that participants in coaching sessions are twice as likely to be successful, as compared to non-participants. Students who participated in academic coaching had an intervention semester GPA of at least a 2.00 or higher (38.6%) as compared to non-participants.
While students are assigned an Academic Advisor, the 2023 Fall student survey shows that 70% of students are meeting with their advisors 0-1 times throughout the semester. In addition, the improvement of Academic Advising was identified as a key theme of the fall 2023 Student Survey. Students reported mixed experiences with advisors. The most common concerns related to needing more guidance with course, program, and career decisions and receiving conflicting information. Student comments illustrated requests for more accessible, informed, and supportive advising.
If Kirkwood invested in an Academic Coach per program area to serve all students regardless of course modality, this would allow students to build a relationship with a support person. In turn, they would likely be more open to being referred to other resources such as study support or program-specific help. Hypothetically, this would result in increased academic success and retention. Current institutional research supports this hypothesis. Data shows that in the spring of 2019, prior to the implementation of Academic Coaching, the online withdraw rate was 16.04%.
We saw a slight decrease in the spring of 2020 at 15.18%. However, the most significant improvement was demonstrated in the spring of 2022 at 8.87%. It is also critical to note that the failure rate for online courses has not gone up in conjunction with these decreases in drop rates. Below is a list of resources along with examples from comparable institutions.
Supporting Research
- https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-academic-coaching-influences-student-performance-and-institutional-outcomes
- https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2019/07/26/academic-coaches-help-students-raise-grades-stay-school-study-finds
- https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/03/02/minority-males-benefit-consistent-academic-coaching
- https://www.ntatutor.com/uploads/1/9/8/6/19864831/exploring_the_effectiveness_of_academic_coaching_for_academically_at-risk_college_students_–_innovative_higher_education_–_2-6-19.pdf
Institutional Examples