Improving student performance and retention via supplemental instruction

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a cooperative learning model designed to improve student performance and retention in courses with a history of high failure and withdrawal rates. This paper describes the SI model and provides descriptive data on student performance, failure, and withdrawal rates for 132 introductory accounting classes from 21 four-year colleges and universities that have adopted SI. Participants in SI programs were observed to have higher average course grades, and lower failure and withdrawal rates. In addition, for a subsample of nine schools, course attrition rates (Ds, Fs, and withdrawals) were lower after implementing SI. Descriptive data presented in the paper indicate that SI is effective in improving student performance and retention in introductory accounting.