Identifying the Relationship Between Supplementary Educational Tools and Black Undergraduate Academic Performance

What is the relationship between supplementary educational tools and the success of undergraduate minority students of Black descent at Andrews University? About a third of all students who attend a private, non-profit, four-year college or university do not complete a degree in six years (Digest of Education Statistics, 2017). Andrews University is a Seventh-Day Adventist, private university, and thus is able to provide a greater quality of education as compared to public colleges and universities (Scholarships.com, 2020). This is reflected in higher six-year graduation rates of private universities, as well as higher grade point averages. Unfortunately, minorities, and specifically Black students, yield lower graduation rates and GPAs as compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Black students at Andrews University perform better than the national data, but they still follow this trend (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2013). The participant pool was Black undergraduate students from various departments and disciplines at Andrews University. Participants completed a survey in which they indicated the degree to which they participate in academic performance-improving actions we called supplementary educational tools. Participants reported that supplementary educational tools, specifically study groups and tutoring, improved academic performance. All supplementary educational tools were helpful in reducing students’ anxiety and improving their understanding. We could not determine if duration and frequency of use were factors in this. Still, these tools were reported as being helpful in improving students’ academic performance, and we should make an effort to implement them systematically across the campus to improve the academic and professional success of Black students