Success Central: Addressing the Persistence of African-American and Latinx College Students Using a Peer Success Coaching Intervention

Abstract

African-American and Latinx enrollment in higher education has increased dramatically in recent years at many predominantly White institutions. However, the graduation rates of these students are substantially lower than the general student population at many of these institutions. This study introduces “Success Central,” an innovative peer coaching initiative offered at a mid-size, comprehensive regional institution. Instead of post-graduate professionals employed as success coaches, which is the typical practice, upper-class undergraduate students were selected and trained in an innovative life coaching intervention designed to address the root causes of student attrition as established in the literature examining the academic and non-academic factors that contribute to early departure. Students met regularly with assigned peer coaches who supported them to address their challenges and accomplishment of their desired goals. The results of this program exceeded the objective of equal persistence rates between the underrepresented students of color who had received peer-coaching and their majority counterparts. Additionally, students who experienced this intervention reported an improvement in their perception of their college experiences and academic skills.