This post is contributed by Dr. Ellen McShane, Director of Academic Success Programs at UVM
On December 11, 2015, I posted a discussion of peer-to-peer collaborative learning experiences implemented through Academic Success Programs (ASP) at UVM. I promised to share the outcomes of our work, which are below:
The College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) provided ASP with the impact on Grade Point Averages (GPA) for first-year CNHS students in 2015 who were offered peer-tutor-led study groups. Table One below shows that the peer-tutor-led study group project impacted the number of students who earned a 3.5 GPA or higher.
| Table One: Outcomes of CNHS Peer-Tutor-Led Study Group Project |
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| Year | Number of Participants |
% of FTFY with 3.5 GPA or Higher |
| 2013 | 0 | 29.8% |
| 2014 | 183 | 31.4% |
| 2015 | 246 | 46.6% |
In addition, we discovered that our 4-year graduation rate for UVM’s Class of 2015 who received tutoring in their first year at UVM graduated at higher rate than the rest of the class as illustrated in Table Two.
| Table Two: Comparison of 4-Yr Grad Rates for Students Tutored in the First Year & all FTFY |
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| Entered 2011 | Numbers | 4-Year Grad Rate |
| Tutored | 643 | 68% |
| All FTFY | 2,423 | 62% |
For the returning sophomores in 2015 who had tutoring in their first year, we are pleased to add Table Three to demonstrate the power of peer-to peer collaborative learning.
| Table Three: Comparison of 2nd Yr Retention Rates for Students Tutored in the First Year & all FTFY |
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| Entered 2014 | Numbers | 2nd Yr Retention Rate |
| Tutored | 1,203 | 89.3% |
| All FTFY | 2,310 | 85.9% |