Started in FA09 to enhance first-year student performance in 100-level courses, Early Performance Feedback (EPF) is a structured early warning program that helps improve academic feedback during the critical early weeks of the semester. In EPF courses instructors identify students “meeting expectations” (ME) and those “not yet meeting expectations” (NYME) within the first 4 weeks of a given course. From here, the Collaborative for Student Achievement, along with academic support coordinators, and other members of students’ Success Network notify students NYME of their progress and provide information about campus resources that may help provide support and improve their academic success.

Two recent reports explore the growth of the EPF program as well as the association between participation in EPF courses and student success outcomes such as course-level grades, second fall persistence, and first fall academic probation rates. Both reports find that the number of EPF courses and EPF sections offered has increased significantly over the last decade, with the number of EPF courses tripling since FA15 alone. The share of students enrolled in at least one EPF course has grown as a result, with almost all full-time, first-time (FTFT) and 4 out of 5 transfer students in the FA19 enrolled in an EPF section during their first fall. The February 2019 report found that after controlling for student attributes and course, EPF section participation was associated with higher odds of earning an A, B, C, or S compared to non-EPF section participation. Among EPF section participants, receiving a NYME notification was highly predictive of course failure.

The October 2020 report expanded upon the earlier report by focusing on the relationship between aspects of the EPF program and observed 2nd fall persistence as well as 1st fall academic probation rates in FA15-FA19 cohorts. Like the earlier report, this report found that intensity of EPF participation, measured in the number of EPF sections students are enrolled in (e.g., 3 sections vs. 1 section), is slightly associated with higher 2nd fall persistence among FTFT students, but with no association among transfers.

Although, it did find that the number of NYME indicators received by students was predictive of future academic success among both FTFT and transfer students. Within EPF sections, students receiving 2 or more NYME notifications were less likely to persist to 2nd fall and more likely to be on academic probation their 1st fall compared to students receiving only 1 NYME. Students receiving ME notifications had the highest 2nd fall persistence and lowest 1st fall probation rates.

Finally, for FTFT students with NYME indicators, those who attended U-Turn had higher persistence and lower academic probation rates, and U-Turn attendance seemed to most improve student success among students with multiple underserved attributes.