Stephanie Izaguirre was used to being the straight-A student who didn’t have to study to get a good grade. But then she took a math class during the spring semester of her freshman year at Fresno State and got the shock of her life.
“My first exam came and it was not so hot,” Izaguirre said. “I did not pass, and I remember being like, ‘how did this happen to me?’ My parents did not send me here to be messing around.”
A Supplemental Instruction leader spoke to her math class about joining study sessions to get extra help. Izaguirre immediately went to a session after her failed test to work with other students on developing successful study strategies, exchanging creative ideas and gaining a better understanding of the material.
Supplemental Instruction, one of three programs under the Learning Center at Fresno State, helped. It also changed the trajectory of Izaguirre’s academic and professional goals. She started as a student who used the program, then became a Supplemental Instruction leader and mentor. Izaguirre graduated with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fresno State, then returned to the Supplemental Instruction program as a staff member in April 2022.
“It’s just so crazy how full circle this became for me. I think, probably more than any other thing in my life, it has formed me to be the person that I am. When I first came [to Fresno State] my goals were very limited. It was to get a bachelor’s, go home, get a job,” said Izaguirre, who has her bachelor’s in human resources and her master’s in counseling, student affairs and college counseling. “I didn’t have the goals and dreams that I have now. Supplemental Instruction got me out of my comfort zone.”
Supplemental Instruction is an academic support program that provides students with peer-assisted study sessions and office hours outside of the classroom. Students compare notes, discuss readings, develop retention strategies and prepare for upcoming exams and quizzes. The sessions are facilitated by “SI leaders” — students who successfully passed the paired course with an A or B and went through intensive training in the program themselves.
During the 2021-22 academic year, 1,522 Fresno State students used Supplemental Instruction about 7,100 times. On average, students who attend Supplemental Instruction at least once a week earn a 98% course passing rate and earn one full letter grade higher compared to non-attending peers.
“Supplemental Instruction provides students with the opportunity to practice course content through teaching their peers,” said program coordinator Mai Kou Vang. “The learned skills they obtain from the study sessions will serve them for a lifetime.”
Supplemental Instruction sessions are held in classrooms and in the Learning Center, a space on the bottom floor of the library that encourages students to grow intellectually as critical thinkers using effective strategies to improve content understanding and course grades. Additional services are also offered in Tutoring and Academic Success Coaching.
During the fall 2022 semester, the program implemented the Supplemental Instruction Course Registration Initiative to increase student access and awareness of its services. Thirty-four course sections were offered with a Supplemental Instruction option. About 953 students registered for the optional sessions. Those who registered were three times more likely to attend Supplemental Instruction sessions, according to data from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
Izaguirre attended Supplemental Instruction sessions two to three times a week as a student. Her leader was inspiring, she said, pushing her out of her comfort zone and encouraging her to use her knowledge to help other students. For example, Izaguirre loves public speaking, something she once hated to do, and she wants to teach someday, perhaps for the student affairs and counseling program that she graduated from.
“Students think they need to struggle on their own,” Izaguirre said, “but having a community on campus where you can struggle together and help bring each other up is going to make the biggest impact on your life.”
