Academic Support Design
Student Success and Retention Strategies Library
Reading Time: < 1 minuteStudent Success and Retention Strategies Library
A curated hub of research-backed resources on student retention, peer tutoring,
supplemental instruction, motivation, and developmental education.
Explore practical guides, PDFs, and overviews designed to help instructors improve persistence, engagement, and learning outcomes.
- Retention & Persistence: evidence-based frameworks and first-year success insights
- Peer & Supplemental Instruction: definitions, models, and implementation checklists
- Teaching & Assessment: Socratic vs. didactic tutoring, affective assessment, proofreading pitfalls
- Special & Adult Learners: strategies for ABE/Dev Ed and students with diverse needs
- Writing & Citation: narrative writing guides and citation style orientation
All items are downloadable as PDFs or web articles from cfder.org. Use this collection as a starting point
for course design, tutoring programs, and campus-wide retention initiatives.
| Resource Title | Link |
|---|---|
| Resources for Adult Developmental Mathematics and Adult Basic Education Instructors | Download PDF |
| Reciprocal Peer Tutoring: An Embedded Assessment Technique to Improve Student Learning and Achievement | Download PDF |
| Research-Based Strategies for Special Needs Students: Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies | Download PDF |
| How Classroom Teachers Can Help Students Learn—and Teach Them How to Learn | Download PDF |
| Affective Assessment for Developmental Students (Part I) | Download PDF |
| Peer Tutoring and the Conversation of Mankind | Download PDF |
| The Keys to First-Year Student Persistence | Download PDF |
| Peer Tutoring and Social Dynamics in Higher Education | Download PDF |
| Students’ Resistance to Change in Learning-Strategies Courses | Download PDF |
| The Role of Academic and Non-Academic Factors in Improving College Retention | Download PDF |
| Reciprocal Peer Tutoring: Re-examining the Value of a Cooperative Learning Technique for College Students and Instructors | Download PDF |
| Help-Seeking, Learning, and Contingent Tutoring | Download PDF |
| A Comparative Evaluation of Socratic Versus Didactic Tutoring | Download PDF |
| Rethinking Student Retention in Community Colleges | Download PDF |
| Reassessing the “Proofreading Trap”: ESL Tutoring and Writing Instruction | Download PDF |