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Dissertation
Supporting Students' Academic Recovery With Academic Success Coaching: A Performance Improvement Study
University of West Florida Libraries
Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida
2026
Abstract
University A (a pseudonym) is a large, public land grant institution in the southeastern United States. A report from the institution’s faculty senate retention committee found that about one in 10 students received an academic warning, indicating their grade point average was below a cumulative 2.0. In the university’s centralized learning center, the academic success coaching (ASC) program had a proven impact to support students on academic warning status (AWS). However, the utilization rate of the ASC program remained low among students on AWS. Using an action research methodology (Stringer & Ortiz Aragón, 2021) and the human performance improvement/human performance technology model (Van Tiem et al., 2012) as a framework, this dissertation in practice examined the current and desired performances of the ASC program as it related to the ability to support students on AWS. I used qualitative data via staff interviews, an academic coach focus group, and a questionnaire to students to gain a better understanding of the existing gaps, following Van Tiem et al.’s (2012) performance analysis phase. The stakeholders determined three causes: two related to communication and one related to the academic coaches’ training.
The stakeholders and I selected an expanded communication network intervention set to address two of the gaps. The set comprised of an asynchronous course for students on AWS and the Academic Recovery Playbook, a psychologically attuned job aid to support faculty and staff in making referrals for students experiencing academic challenges. Unfortunately, the results of the implementation, which occurred in the middle of the Fall 2025 semester, were inconclusive. I recommended the ASC program continue with the interventions for a complete semester and reassess the outcomes. I also offered additional recommendations, focusing on the primary concern that a knowledge-based intervention may not be best suited to address a communication-based problem.
The ASC program remained determined to develop programs and practices that support students’ academic recovery. Even though this intervention set did not make a demonstrable difference in the 8 weeks it was implemented for this research, modifications may yield a better result. Perna (2023) stated, “We cannot blame students if they do not complete our higher education programs . . . we . . . need to critically examine how our systems, processes, and practices are failing to enable all students to succeed” (p. x). This dissertation in practice was an attempt to heed this call, with the goal of continuing to support student success.
Details
- Title
- Supporting Students' Academic Recovery With Academic Success Coaching
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Contributors
- Lauren Adlof (Committee Member)Emily Griffin Overocker (Committee Member)Jaime S Miller (Committee Member)Holley L Handley (Committee Chair)
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 187
- Copyright
- Unpublished work © Caroline Christina Atwood Brode
- Identifiers
- 99381865661806600
- Academic Unit
- School of Education; Instructional Design and Technology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Doctor of Education (EDD)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Education (EDD), University of West Florida