Grant Objective:
Test and study academic recovery interventions with each participating university scaling the interventions from GSU’s Accelerator Academy.
Participating Institutions: GSU, UIC, UCR, Purdue, VCU, CUD, Utah, NC A&T, Oregon State, ASU, MSU, UCF
Academic Recovery Initiative
All UIA member schools are deeply committed to producing more low-income graduates, first-generation graduates, and graduates of color. However, first-year students sometimes have difficulties adjusting to college’s academic demands, and the pandemic years increased the DFW rate (students earning grades of D and F or withdrawing from a course with no credit) on many campuses.
Dr. Tim Renick, Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Success (NISS) at Georgia State University, pioneered the Accelerator Academy to reverse the growing DFW trend, and in 2023, the UIA launched our Academic Recovery Initiative, scaling the NISS Accelerator model across ten additional campuses. Our $3.5 million, 2.5-year initiative provides financial and academic support for students retaking high-priority courses in which they were previously unsuccessful.
The Accelerator model provides tuition subsidies and microgrants for students to retake a high-priority lower division course in which they’ve previously earned a D, F, or Withdraw grade, also offering wraparound academic support to participants through supplemental instruction and academic coaching. Pilot data from campuses implementing the Accelerator in the first round, summer and fall 2023, showed 77% of students succeeding in their course retake efforts via this model – a 22% improvement over the historical 55% retake success rate for students not participating in the Accelerator.
In addition to improving the success rates of students, retention was also very high (just over 85%) for students retained in the fall after completing their summer Accelerator course. We look forward to sharing more outcomes from subsequent terms as UIA campuses continue to test and refine how they implement the Accelerator approach.
