UMKC's department of Academic Support and Mentoring (ASM) offers a wide range of services and programs to help your students meet their academic goals. Services available through ASM include the Writing Studio, Supplemental Instruction, Tutoring, and Roo Up Seminars. ASM also provides programming and resources for Summer Bridge Scholars, First Gen Roo, Jumpstart KC, and Trustees' Scholars.
As a faculty or staff member, your support and involvement with the department of Academic Support and Mentoring is essential to student success. We welcome your comments and feedback on how we can best serve students. Please fill out the below comment card with any suggestion or ideas regarding academic support programming at UMKC.
Based on past surveys, research has shown that faculty recommendation is one of the top reasons students attend ASM's support services. Take the recommendation a step further by having ASM conduct a brief in-class presentation over our services or sign up to take a tour of our collaborative space in the Atterbury Student Success Center. Both presentation and tour run approximately 15-20 minutes depending on questions. If you are interested in scheduling a tour or presentation, please click the button below.
Schedule a tour or presentation
The department of Academic Support and Mentoring (ASM) offers a wide range of services and programs to help students meet their academic goals. ASM offers peer tutoring, writing and presentation assistance, SI study groups, instructional videos and many more resources that are valuable to your success in this class. Information can be found on the ASM website at umkc.edu/asm.
Visit the resource pages specific to UMKC Tutoring, Supplemental Instruction and the Writing Studio through the links below. Flyers and social media banners for Summer Bridge Scholars and First Gen Roo follow in the drop-down sections.
Visit the UMKC Tutoring Faculty & Staff Resources page
Visit the Supplemental Instruction Faculty & Staff Resources page
ASM’s initiatives have consistently demonstrated a positive impact on student retention at UMKC.
The average lift in persistence rate for SI nationally is 1.98% (Civitas Learning, 2018). At UMKC, the SI program results are much higher. The highest lift with SI participation is seen with first-time and transfer students (9.2%) when they begin their college experience at UMKC.
The Civitas Illume Impact program was used to examine the impact of SI on incoming freshmen (FTC) and transfer students, sophomores, and juniors from Fall 2016 through Fall 2019 during students’ first term at UMKC. Students who attended three or more SI sessions within a term were compared with students who attended fewer than three sessions in a term, including those who did not attend SI at all. Students in the two groups (attended SI 3+/did not attend SI 3+) were matched in key demographic areas: terms completed, course modality, full-time/part-time, gender, admission type, STEM or non-STEM major, ethnicity/race. In addition, students were matched based upon past persistence prediction score, which is calculated within the Civitas program. By matching students with similar predicted persistence scores, we are able to better attribute impact results to the intervention (SI), rather than other factors.
| First time college and transfer students in their first term at UMKC | Matched pairs of students | Persistence rate of students attending <3 SI sessions | Persistence rate of students attending 3+ SI sessions | Persistence lift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 1,492 | 70.3% | 79.5% | 9.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 145 | 68.2% | 81.2% | 13.0% |
| Black or African American | 215 | 59.9% | 72.0% | 12.1% |
| White or Caucasian | 868 | 71.9% | 80.4% | 8.5% |
The average lift in persistence rate for writing tutorial services nationally is 3.68% (Civitas Learning, 2018). The Writing Studio impact on retention at UMKC for first-term students (freshmen and transfer students) is much higher at 9.8%.
The Civitas Illume Impact program was used to examine the impact of Writing Studio services on incoming freshmen (FTC) and transfer students, sophomores, and juniors from Fall 2016 through Spring 2020 during students’ first term at UMKC. Students who visited the Writing Studio two or more times within a term were compared with students who attended fewer than two times in a term, including those who did not attend at all. Students in the two groups (attended WS 2+/did not attend WS 2+) were matched in key demographic areas: terms completed, course modality, full-time/part-time, gender, admission type, STEM or non-STEM major, ethnicity/race. In addition, students were matched based upon past persistence prediction score, which is calculated within the Civitas program. By matching students with similar predicted persistence scores, we are able to better attribute impact results to the intervention (Writing Studio), rather than other factors.
| Matched pairs of students | Persistence rate of students attending <2 WS sessions | Persistence rate of students attending 2+ WS sessions | Persistence lift for students attending Writing Studio 2+ times/term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First term at UMKC | 271 | 75.6% | 85.4% | 9.8% |
| Sophomores | 282 | 87.6% | 90.5% | 2.9% |
| Juniors | 285 | 88.4% | 89.7% | 1.3% |
The average lift in persistence rate for tutoring services nationally is 1.82% (Civitas Learning, 2018). UMKC Tutoring demonstrated an impact on retention of 6.0% for first-term students (freshmen and transfer students).
The Civitas Illume Impact program was used to examine the impact of UMKC Tutoring services on incoming freshmen (FTC) and transfer students, sophomores and juniors from Fall 2016 through Spring 2020 during students’ first term at UMKC. Students who visited UMKC Tutoring three or more times within a term were compared with students who attended fewer than three times in a term, including those who did not attend at all. Students in the two groups (attended Tutoring 3+/did not attend 3+) were matched in key demographic areas: terms completed, course modality, full-time/part-time, gender, admission type, STEM or non-STEM major, ethnicity/race. In addition, students were matched based upon past persistence prediction score, which is calculated within the Civitas program. By matching students with similar predicted persistence scores, we are able to better attribute impact results to the intervention (UMKC Tutoring), rather than other factors.
| Matched pairs of students with like demographics and predicted persistence | Persistence rate of students attending <3 tutoring sessions | Persistence rate of students attending 3+ tutoring sessions | Persistence lift for students attending UMKC Tutoring 3+ times/term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First term at UMKC | 350 | 72.2% | 78.2% | 6.0% |
| Sophomores | 272 | 86.2% | 90.8% | 4.6% |
| Juniors | 294 | No significant results | ||
Participants in the Summer Bridge Scholars Program have been retained at a significantly higher rate than students with similar characteristics who did not participate in the program, and we expect similar positive results for this summer’s cohort of Scholars. Comparative retention rates for 2014-2018 are as follows:
| Summer Bridge Scholars cohort year | Summer Bridge Scholar cohort retention rate | "Like" students, non-Summer Bridge Scholars retention rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 68.8% | 55.0% |
| 2015 | 84.0% | 53.8% |
| 2016 | 66.7% | 30.8% |
| 2017 | 64.0% | 28.6% |
| 2018 | 62.9% | 23.5% |
As of January 2021, the 40 First Gen Roo participants in Fall 2020 earned an average GPA of 2.94, with 57.5% of them earning a 3.3 (B+) or higher. 87.5% of the FGR cohort persisted to spring semester.
| n=students | Financial aid need = high | Average GPA in FS20 (Semester 1) | % earning a GPA of 3.3 (B+) or higher in FS20 | % enrolled in SP21 (Semester 2) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All UMKC First Time College | 1059 | 45.70% | 2.86 | 52.97% | 80.83% |
| All First Gen First Time College | 392 (37.02% of all FTC) | 70.15% | 2.55 | 38.52% | 77.81% |
| First Gen Roo | 40 (10.2% of First Gen FTCs) | 72.50% | 2.94 | 57.50% | 87.50% |
