Supplemental Instruction (SI) is an academic assistance program that utilizes peer-assisted study sessions. SI sessions are regularly-scheduled, informal review sessions in which students compare notes, discuss readings, develop organizational tools, and predict test items. Students learn how to integrate course content and study skills while working together. The sessions are facilitated by "SI leaders", students who have previously done well in the course and who attend all class lectures, take notes, and act as model students.

Purpose:
To increase retention within targeted historically difficult courses
To improve student grades in targeted historically difficult courses
To increase the graduation rates of students

Participants:
SI is a "free service" offered to all students in a targeted course. SI is a non remedial approach to learning as the program targets high-risk courses rather than high-risk students. All students are encouraged to attend SI sessions, as it is a voluntary program. Students with varying levels of academic preparedness and diverse ethnicities participate. There is no remedial stigma attached to SI since the program targets high-risk courses rather than high-risk students.(University of Missouri-Kansas City). (video made by SI at RIT)

One reason why and how SI works is that SI sessions are proactive and participatory rather than reactive and passive. SI strives to break what is called the Dependency Cycle or "learned helplessness."

The Dependency Cycle is a pattern of learned behavior that allows students to remain dependent upon an authority figure (instructor or tutor) for learning. Relying too heavily on repetition, drill, and memorization encourages this dependency. These techniques cause students to fall back into a mode of memorizing isolated facts which is time-consuming and ineffective. Students with sophisticated learning strategies that allow them to convert information into meaningful knowledge will learn with this format, however, students without this sophistication, especially those new to a discipline, will have problems. When these students have problems, they will ask questions, which may lead to their professor telling them again, usually more slowly the second or third time. Being told the same information more slowly does not correct the problem.

The students' failure in one situation may lead them to feel as though they cannot learn new, complicated information at all. SI works to help students use new 4learning strategies so they are less dependent on being told information. It enjoys a non-remedial image while offering academic support to all students enrolled in historically difficult courses (University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2004).
Another reason why and how SI works is that, besides higher grades and effective learning skills, SI provides students with peer collaborative learning experiences which promote assimilation into campus culture. SI makes efficient use of study time and provides an opportunity for students to develop relationships with other students and staff, an important factor in retention (University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2004).