Supplemental instruction: leading to success

This paper addresses the role of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in our Computer Science courses. SI is a free, voluntary academic development program aimed at increasing students' retention and success in their academic careers. The program is offered to all students in various historically-difficult subjects. SI is led by upper-level students ("SI Leaders") who have successfully taken these courses during previous semesters. The SI leaders are embedded in the classroom in order to help the students along with the instructors. They facilitate regularly-scheduled out-of-class sessions, which are structured group study sessions to support students so they can master the course's content and learn effective study skills. We discuss the advantages and positive results we have seen in our Computer Science courses as a result of incorporating SI.