Quest for Student Success: The Importance of Student Tutoring

At Middle Tennessee State University, junior Jaylon Britt, left, tutors sophomore Raven Beverley at the Tutoring Spot in Walker Library. Photo courtesy of Middle Tennessee State University.

Cornelia Wills, Director of Student Success, Middle Tennessee State University

Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) has made improving student retention and graduation outcomes a top priority. In 2013, in response to low graduation and retention rates, the university adopted Quest for Student Success, a comprehensive, strategic initiative designed to improve these and other outcomes.

With the end goal of degree completion in mind, we set out to remove barriers to student success. This process involved four main strategies: (a) advisor enhancements, (b) communication plans, (c) course redesign, and (d) tutoring. Advisor enhancements resulted in 40 additional advisors hired to reduce the student-to-advisor ratio; communication plans gave way to more innovative, datainformed practices; course redesignrevamped general education courses with higher-than-average failure rates; and centralized tutoring provided students more learning support opportunities. This article outlines how changes to tutoring at MTSU have led to increased rates of persistence and retention, particularly for first-year and sophomore students.

How Tutoring Evolved

Research suggests tutoring at colleges and universities is an essential resource for enhancing student academic performance and persistence (Arco-Tirado, Fernández- Martin, & Fernández-Balboa, 2011). An initial review of tutoring services at MTSU found that tutoring was decentralized and occurred in only some departments. MTSU administrators discussed a centralized tutoring concept in 2012, spurred by research suggesting that such support is one of the best resources a college can offer students (Boylan, Bliss, & Bonham, 1997; Henry Ford Community College, April 2011).

A pilot, serving 140 courses and housed in a dedicated space at the library, was launched in 2013. The space was positioned to be visible to students entering the facility. The pilot did not require a specific number of participants and was open to students in all class levels and majors. Courses for tutoring were selected across colleges and included many general education courses and others in which students tend to struggle (e.g., chemistry, math, physics, history, biology). MTSU did not track student usage or assessment in the pilot phase. No final push was necessary for full implementation, which began in Spring 2014, as tutoring was already a component of the Quest.

Elevating Awareness

As is the case at many institutions, we found that some students were unaware that tutoring was available at MTSU. To remedy this, we took measures to draw attention to the tutoring center through a festive event, MTSU Flips over Tutoring (MTSU, 2017), which featured sign twirlers in front of the library. The MTSU president, provost, deans, and other top administrators participated in this innovative and highly successful “flipping” event, which included an informational tent, music, refreshments, and tutoring swag. The university has also implemented other methods to increase student awareness of tutoring, including

• yard signs (placed in high-traffic areas)

• napkin holders (in key eating venues)

• postcards (at university events)

• fliers (in strategic areas and at university events), and

• outreach via social media (primarily Facebook).

An online database (MTSU, n.d.) is also available to help students find available tutoring opportunities.

At left, junior Jonathan Adams is tutored by graduate student Victor Barnes in Middle Tennessee State University’s accounting laboratory. Photo courtesy of Middle Tennessee State University.

Implementation and the Process

Though tutoring occurs in other locations, the central location (Tutoring Spot) in the library provides students easy access with their MTSU ID. Peer tutors, selected by academic departments and the student success director, along with graduate assistants from the featured academic departments, provide the tutoring services, which are free to students. The length of the sessions vary depending on students’ needs but typically last one hour. Peer tutors receive annual training before the fall semester.

Because of MTSU’s large student population (about 22,000), a college liaison, primarily an associate dean, represents each college that offers tutoring. Liaisons meet periodically with the director of student success regarding updates and other issues. The student success director also meets with peer tutors as needed. A monthly budget report is sent to each liaison so each area can monitor their tutoring expenditures.

Boosting Study Skills

Some students come to MTSU without a good foundation for studying. Recognizing this, MTSU developed a track to help with basic study skills and learning strategies in Fall 2016. The study skills program has been extremely successful and experienced tremendous growth, with usage increasing by 144% since its inception. Early indicators show higher GPAs for students who attended tutoring in study skills compared with a similar group who did not. For Fall 2017, a significantly higher percentage of students in the first group earned an A compared with a matched sample of those who did not participate in the study skills track. For that semester, 26% more first-year students, 10% more sophomores, 90% more juniors, and 10% more seniors made an A when they received study skills tutoring than those who did not.

Additionally, we found that some students were having trouble navigating the D2L (Desire2Learn) cloud-based platform for their coursework, so in Fall 2017 we added this as well as reflective writing assistance into the study skills track. The school received a Tennessee Board of Regents Student Engagement, Retention, and Success grant for the 2018-2019 academic year to implement peer e-portfolio tutoring and launched this initiative as a pilot for Fall 2018.

Measuring Success

We measure success of our program in three ways: (a) utilization, (b) student retention, and (c) grades.

Utilization

When students who go for tutoring swipe their IDs, their information feeds into MTSU’s Banner system to generate usage reports. Based on the most recent data from Fall 2017, measures of tutoring utilization—total sessions and hours spent—grew 74% and 78%, respectively, over the prior fall semester (Table 1). From 2015-2017, the total sessions and hours spent in tutoring grew by 126% and 120%, respectively.

Retention

Data show tutoring has positively impacted student retention at MTSU, particularly at the first-year and sophomore levels. For Fall 2016, both classes were retained at a rate 17 percentage points higher than those in the comparative group that did not go to tutoring. Similarly, in Fall 2017, the rate was 14 percentage points higher for first-year students and 16 percentage points higher for sophomores who participated in tutoring.

Grades

Based on Fall 2017 data, out of 2,577 unique tutoring participants, about 95% passed all of the courses in which they were tutored. Almost 90% passed with a C or higher; 66% earned a B or higher; and 32% earned an A.

Implications

Most recently, MTSU integrated with the Education Advisory Board’s (EAB) Student Success Collaborative (SSC) Campus platform. SSC is a web-based system that houses areas, such as advising and tutoring, and can track tutoring activity, including usage. Unfortunately, it is too soon to gauge the effects of the new system, as tutoring at MTSU was integrated into SSC Campus (now called Navigate) in Fall 2018.

Strategies implemented at MTSU to grow the tutoring program and, subsequently, increase retention and persistence rates, can easily be adopted at other institutions to achieve similar goals.

References

Arco-Tirado, J. L.; Fernandez-Martin, F. D.; & Fernandez-Balboa, J. (2011). The impact of a peer-tutoring program on quality standards in higher education. Higher Education, 62, 773. Retrieved from https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9419-x

Boylan, H. R., Bliss, L. B., & Bonham, B. S. (1997, Spring). Program components and their relationship to student performance. Reprinted from the Journal of Developmental Education, 20, 3. Retrieved from https:// ncde.appstate.edu/sites/ncde.appstate. edu/files/Program%20Components.pdf

Henry Ford Community College. (2011, April). Tutoring taskforce recommendations. Retrieved from https://learnlab.hfcc.edu/ files/ttfreportfinaldraft06.22.2011.pdf

Middle Tennessee State University. (n.d.). Free tutoring at MTSU. Retrieved from https:// mtsu.edu/studentsuccess/tutoring.php

Middle Tennessee State University. (2017, March 21). MT flips over tutoring [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=mvTZAa1wHkM

Contact: Cornelia Wills, Cornelia.Wills@mtsu.edu

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