Entry Characteristics and Participation in a Peer Learning Program as Predictors of First-Year Students’ Achievement, Retention, and Degree Completion

Abstract

Success in the first year of higher education is important for students' retention beyond their first year and for completion of their undergraduate degree. Institutions therefore typically front-load resources and interventions in the first year. One such intervention is the Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) program. This program is known in the United States as Supplemental Instruction. It provides first-year students with an opportunity to learn study skills in the context of a particular unit of study (course/module). In this article, we consider the relationship between students' prior academic achievement and participation in the PASS program, as well as the impact of participation on first-year students' first-year grade point average, retention, and degree completion. The findings suggest that PASS does not just attract academically high-achieving students and that participation in it contributes to students' academic achievement in their first year, retention beyond the first year, and completion of an undergraduate degree.

First semester academic performance: The importance of early indicators of non-engagement

“…Peer-assisted study sessions incorporate induction of first-year students into study approaches that benefit successful academic performance. This finding is also supported by a considerable amount of research over many years (Dawson et al, 2014;van der Meer et al, 2017). Of note is that the impact of attendance of PASS sessions remains significant, even when controlled for prior performance at high school.…”

“…This program, which was developed in the U.S. in the 1970s to combat first-year attrition and is known as Supplemental Instruction, has further developed beyond the US since the 1990s where the program is generally known as PASS (Dawson et al, 2014). Research into the effectiveness of PASS suggests that in many cases participation in this program has a positive effect on both academic success and retention of first-year students (e.g., Dawson et al, 2014;van der Meer, Wass, Scott, & Kokaua, 2017).…”

“…Although there is more than 40 years of research into first-year retention and student success (Braxton, Milem, & Sullivan, 2000;McInnis, James, & Hartley, 2000;McInnis, James, & McNaught, 1995;Tinto, 1982Tinto, , 2000Tinto, , 2007 there is no single 'magic bullet' intervention that has proven to address the needs of all students in any context. Retention and academic success interventions need to be tailored for particular contexts, taking into account local affordances and constraints (Nelson, Clarke, Kift, & Creagh, 2011;van der Meer, Scott, & Neha, 2010;Yorke, 2004;Zepke & Leach, 2005).…”

Do academic motivation and personality influence which students benefit the most from peer-assisted study sessions?

“…Widely cited articles from the 1990s (e.g. Matin & Arendale, 1993) suggest that PASS is effective at increasing grades, decreasing fail and withdraw rates, and increasing graduation rates, even after controlling for prior academic achievement and ethnicity (Dawson et al, 2014;Hurley & Gilbert, 2008;van der Meer, Wass, Scott, & Kokaua, 2017). However, a number of researchers have noted theoretical and methodological concerns with previous research.…”

“…There is a growing trend in examining the comparative efficacy of PASS attendance across participant categories: Prior achievement (e.g. Malm et al, 2015;van der Meer, et al, 2017); ethnicity or minority status (e.g. Okun et al, 2013;van der Meer et al, 2017); or gender (e.g.…”