Supplemental Instruction (SI) offers educators a nonremedial, cost-effective approach to tackling student retention and performance problems at the first-year student level through graduate school. SI originated in 1973 in response to the question: How do we retain our students, including those who are underprepared, without lowering academic standards, inflating grades, or spAnding extra money? The answer emerged in a course-specific, collaborative learning model that identified high-risk courses instead of high-risk students. A decade later the U.S. Department of Education designated Supplemental Instruction as an Exemplary Educational Program and has since provided funds to disseminate SI nationally. The department certifies that SI participants earn higher course grades and graduate in greater numbers despite differences in entry level scores, prior performance, race or ethnicity. The collection of chapters in this volume represents a sampling of the exciting work that practitioners in the field are doing. This is the 60th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning. For more information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.
