Linda Y. Solis, University of St. Thomas Houston
While academic coaching was initially introduced into higher education in 2000 by an independent company called InsideTrack to offer additional retention support services to institutions, it has only begun to gain more traction with institutions developing their own academic coaching programs the past few years (Bettinger & Baker, 2014; Capstick et al., 2019). As higher education institutions look for new ways to engage and assist students in their educational journeys and boost retention, the recent trend has been to hire academic coaches to supplement advising efforts on campus. In the past, many advisors had already been employing coaching-like methods during their advising sessions with students addressing issues such as time management, school/life balance, and study skills. By separating advising and coaching duties into distinct individual roles, advisors can focus more on advising-related issues while coaches focus more time on other situations that may impact a student’s academic success.
The Distinction Between Advising and Coaching Roles
As students transition into college life, they learn that higher education institutions are structured differently than in high school. In high school, students were often used to going to their guidance counselors regarding academic and non-academic needs. At the higher education level, the role of counselor has a different meaning as they serve students’ mental health needs rather than academic ones (Robinson, 2015). Therefore, it’s important for institutions to explain that distinction as well as inform students about the roles of academic advisors, and now academic coaches, in their college journey.
If an institution employs both academic advisors and coaches to serve students, defining what each role does is key to ensuring that students know when they should seek assistance from one or the other. While the role of advisors is well established, the role of coaches is not. The role of academic advisors has historically been to inform students about academic policies, provide guidance on degree plans, determine academic goals, and assist with registration-related activities leading to graduation (McClellan & Moser, 2011; Robinson, 2015). Typically, advisors will have larger caseloads, which impacts their ability to devote as much time to each student’s needs beyond degree planning.
Conversely, many institutions have defined the coach’s role based on the needs of their respective student populations. As a result, coaching programs do not have a universal design and can vary widely as to who is providing the coaching and in what locations on campus (Alzen et al., 2021). Some programs have full-time staff coaches, and others use trained graduate students as part-time coaches within academic departments. Unlike advisors who may have large caseloads, coaches will have smaller caseloads, which allow them more time to directly address internal and external influences on their academic success.
What is Academic Coaching?
Just as coaching programs can vary in their design, the definition of coaching can vary as well. Bettinger & Baker (2011) saw coaching as a one-on-one intervention to address the needs of students who were academically at-risk by focusing on areas such as a student’s strengths, goals, and overall academic performance. The National Academic Advising Association (2017) and Robinson (2015) defined coaching as a collaborative and interactive relationship between the coach and student that takes into account a student’s overall personal and professional goals while developing their strengths and self-awareness to evaluate and overcome the barriers that impede their academic success. Capstick et al. (2019) and Robinson & Gahagan (2010) describe coaches as being a liaison and resource between students and other campus departments.
Therefore, it is important to inform students as soon as possible that there are staff that can assist with their different needs. By defining the roles for students early on, students can have a clear understanding of whom they should go to for assistance.
Launching a Student Success Coach Model
In late 2022, the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Houston, Texas, received a Title V federal grant to employ student success coaches to serve first-time freshman and new transfers. Currently, UST’s advising model is predominantly faculty-based with a couple of general staff advisors to assist undecided students. Because faculty already lack sufficient time to devote to advising duties due to their teaching, research, and administrative obligations, the coaches serve to attend to the non-degree related concerns students have that may not be adequately addressed during one-on-one advising sessions. The initial focus is on first-time freshmen and new transfers since they have the highest risk of not being retained and experience struggles with transition into the university. Over time, it is planned that all students attending UST will have success coaches assigned to them as the success coach model expands.
In addition to three full-time success coaches employed through the Title V grant, several campus staff who serve students in other departments have been identified to serve as informal success coaches as well. The university recently launched a student engagement system called Watermark where students are assigned to success coaches and academic advisors. As faculty generate early alerts through the system, the alerts are received by coaches and advisors where they can then perform outreach to the student. In many instances, students receive outreach from both their coach and advisor. The coaches and/or advisors can work with the student, as well as with the faculty who generated the alert, to address the student’s academic needs with a multi-pronged approach. The system also allows faculty to include other campus resource departments like tutoring in the alert as needed.
Students who have met with success coaches have discussed issues related to work/life/school balance, struggles with time management, concerns over disability accommodations in class, and even indecision about what extracurricular activities to pursue on campus. Success coaches have provided students with the opportunity to have dedicated discussions about challenges that may not have otherwise been had with advisors. They have also sent out frequent communication regarding exam study tips, reminders of important academic deadlines, and availability of campus resources.
During the new student orientation, the advising and coaching roles are explained to the students, and the definitions are also included in the welcome email that goes out to the coaching caseloads at the beginning of the academic year. At UST, the roles are defined as the following:
Students are also provided with a sample of scenarios for which coaching may be a more appropriate resource to seek:
Conclusion
Since the success coach model is still in its infancy at UST, it may still take some time to see the impact on students’ academic success and overall retention. Because the field of academic coaching itself is still a relatively under-developed student support service, research remains limited in its long-term impact and effectiveness at higher education institutions. The relatively recent formation of the Coaching in Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) in 2020 may help to paint a clearer picture of the definition and value of the coaching role in student success. By having a more defined role, coaches can work collaboratively with other critical campus personnel like advisors to ensure a holistic approach in serving students.
References
Alzen, J. L., Burkhardt, A., Diaz-Bilello, E., Elder, E., Sepulveda, A., Blankenheim, A., & Board,L. (2021). Academic coaching and its relationship to student performance, retention, and credit completion. Innovative Higher Education, 46(5), 539–563. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755- 021-09554-w.
Bettinger, E., & Baker, R. (2011). The effects of student coaching in college: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student mentoring [NBER Working Paper No. 1688]. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w16881
Bettinger, E. P., & Baker, R. B. (2014). The effects of student coaching: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student advising. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373713500523
Capstick, M. K., Harrell-Williams, L. M., Cockrum, C. D., & West, S. L. (2019). Exploring the effectiveness of academic coaching for academically at-risk college students. Innovative Higher Education, 44(3), 219–231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-019-9459-1
McClellan, J., & Moser, C. (2011). A practical approach to advising as coaching. NACADA Clearinghouse. https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Advising-as-coaching.aspx
National Academic Advising Association (2017). Academic coaching advising community. https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Community/Advising-Communities/Academic-Coaching.aspx
Robinson, C. E. (2015). Academic/success coaching: A description of an emerging field in higher education (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina). Scholar Commons. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/3148/
Robinson, C., & Gahagan, J. (2010). Coaching students to academic success and engagement on campus. About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience, 15(4), 26–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.20032
