The Learning Center’s Supplemental Instruction (SI) program provides students with peer-led group study sessions and office hours outside of the classroom for historically difficult courses. The sessions are facilitated by SI Leaders, students who have passed the course and now collaborate with faculty and attend lectures alongside current students. Sessions are inclusive learning spaces where students compare notes, discuss readings, develop retention strategies and prepare for upcoming quizzes and exams. The SI program at Fresno State is considered a high impact practice as student usage translates into increased course content understanding, higher course grades, peer-to-peer collaboration and engagement and improved retention and graduation rates.

Within the last several years, the SI program has earned many prestigious awards from the International Center of SI, including, Outstanding SI Programming Award, Outstanding SI Mentor Award and Outstanding Innovation Award. This year, SI Leader of Introductory General Chemistry, Jose Martinez-Galvez, will receive the Outstanding SI Leader Award at the 13th International Conference on Supplemental Instruction in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jose has served as an SI Leader since spring 2023. On average, students who participated in SI regularly had a 100 percent passing rate in the class, a significant contrast to the 57% passing rate observed among students who did not engage in SI. Additionally, students who took advantage of Jose’s SI sessions at least once a week earned a mean grade point average of 3.0 compared to those who did not at 1.60.

Learn more about the SI program.