UGA students are very well-prepared. The Class of 2027 posted an average high school GPA of 4.13, an average ACT score of 30, or an average SAT score of 1322. Often such high-achieving students have never experienced any kind of failure. But the demanding pace of a research institution like UGA often poses significant and unexpected challenges for our students. Our Academic Coaching program provides direct, differentiated assistance for students as they navigate college, overcome challenges they encounter, achieve academic success, and ultimately graduate. Helping our students cultivate a productive academic mindset is an important part of this process.
Housed within the Office for Student Success and Achievement (formerly Division of Academic Enhancement), Academic Coaching offers UGA students the opportunity to meet with certified and trained Academic Coaches to discuss their pathways to success. Coaching empowers students to identify their strengths, explore evidence-based study strategies, reflect on their own learning, and ultimately develop a growth mindset.
Typically, the coach and student work together to create a strategic learning plan—one that lays the groundwork for awareness of what strategies and practices will be necessary for success in UGA’s academic environment.
Academic Coaching also plays a crucial role in our new Connect & Complete Persistence Framework which is a set of academic policies for undergraduate students in academic difficulty. The goal of Connect & Complete is to provide timely intervention to prevent students from being dismissed. When those who are dismissed return to the university, they have a degree completion team that includes an Academic Coach, along with their academic advisor and a case worker from Student Care and Outreach to formulate a success plan.
Evaluation Plan and measures: Our last impact study was in 2018; we planned to produce another impact study during fall 2023. However, due to significant changes in staffing this impact study was delayed to Fall 2024. Starting in Fall 2024, we will put this study on a two-year cycle to continue to measure its impact.
KPIs:
- Increased term GPAs for students on Academic Warning who participate in ongoing (2 or more) academic coaching sessions
- Increases in Fall to Spring and Spring to Fall retention rates for students on Academic Warning who participate in ongoing (2 or more) academic coaching sessions
Baseline measure for each KPI:
- Term GPAs prior to participating in Academic Coaching
- Retention rates for students on Academic Warning who do not participate in ongoing academic coaching
Current/most recent data for each KPI:
- The 2018 impact study found an average increase of 0.73 in term GPA for students who participated in ongoing (5 or more) Academic Coaching sessions
- Fall 2023 to Spring 2023 retention data for students on Academic Warning is not immediately available but is currently being compiled
Goal or targets for each KPI:
- An increase of .25 in the term GPA
- 5% increase in retention rate compared to students on academic warning who do not participate in ongoing academic coaching
Time period/duration
- Ongoing, with data collection and assessment every fall and spring term
- Ongoing, with data collection and assessment every fall and spring term
Fall 2024 Update (for each KPI):
At the conclusion of the Fall 2024 semester, we will evaluate end of term GPAs to determine if ongoing academic coaching correlates with a higher GPA. At the beginning of Spring 2025 we will evaluate Fall to Spring retention rates for students who participated in ongoing academic coaching in comparison to students who did not.
We have partnered with InsideTrack Training and Development to provide foundational and advanced levels of training and certification for coaches. As interest in coaching increased from students, we could not meet the demand and needed to significantly increase the number of coaches and trainers. In fall 2024, we will have five faculty and staff members finish the process to become fully certified InsideTrack trainers, thus allowing us to provide ongoing training sessions to onboard additional coaches
We will examine our previous impact study and modify as needed to produce a new impact study during fall 2024. While our KPIs focus on students on Academic Warning, the impact study will also look at the influence of coaching on all students who participate. We will review quantitative and qualitative measures to determine the impact coaching has on different student populations. This year we will discuss developing an assessment tool to measure the impact on coaches.
