In a field as rigorous as nursing, academic support is critical to student success. Over the past three and a half years, the VCU School of Nursing has established and expanded tutoring and academic coaching services, ensuring that undergraduate students have the resources they need to excel. What started as a smaller initiative serving 48 students in its first year has grown into a comprehensive support system now benefiting about 200 students annually.

Transforming challenges into opportunities

With initial funding from philanthropists Joanne and Bill Conway through their Bedford Falls Foundation-DAF, the academic coaching initiative was created to help students overcome challenges that might otherwise prevent them from completing their degrees. As part of this effort, the school implemented a remediation protocol in the spring of 2023 to support students struggling in key courses.

Originally introduced as a targeted intervention for students who score below 80 on an exam, the protocol was designed to help students get back on track and provide a clear path for recovery in a given course. Through one-on-one sessions with the school’s student success coach, students receive tailored tips to improve study strategies and build confidence.

Over five semesters, 657 students received support as part of the protocol. Of the students who received academic coaching, 93.75% successfully passed their course.

“The success of this effort underscores the effectiveness of the program and highlights the school’s commitment to supporting every student’s journey to graduation,” said Patricia Kinser, Ph.D., interim dean and professor. “By meeting students where they are and offering individualized support, we are helping them succeed and preparing them to be effective and skilled contributors in the health care workforce.”

The school’s academic coaching program provides targeted support to help students overcome academic challenges, including pandemic-related learning loss, ensuring they build the skills needed to be practice-ready. By fostering both competence and confidence, the program has strengthened student retention and prepared graduates for professional success.

Since its launch, the program has helped increase the school’s prelicensure student retention rate from 92% to 95%, the school’s prelicensure student retention rate has climbed from 92% to 95%, far exceeding the national average of 75% to 80% reported by the National League for Nursing. 

Our academic coaching philosophy isn't about making nursing school easier; it's about providing the support students need to build stronger problem-solving skills, develop resilience, and succeed on their own terms—preparing them to be their most capable and confident selves in their future nursing careers.

Patricia Kinser, Ph.D.
Interim Dean and Professor

From targeted coaching to comprehensive support

Building on the success of the remediation protocol, the school’s academic coach, Lindsay Tierney, Ed.D., methodically developed components for a comprehensive student success program. The goal was to ensure all students seeking coaching had access to support. This expansion allowed students to schedule time with success coaches to proactively develop key academic skills such as time management, study habits and goal-setting.

“I wanted to design systems and procedures that meet students where they were and create a culture of proactive services,” Tierney explained. “Supporting students in helping them to see potential roadblocks before they hit them: anticipate needs, remove barriers, and foster resilience before challenges begin or escalate."

To achieve rapid growth in the initiative, the school leveraged partnerships and also added new staff and hourly positions. In the spring of 2024, the school began a partnership with the Campus Learning Center to establish an undergraduate peer tutoring program. Now in its first full semester and supported by six peer tutors, engagement has exceeded expectations.

“Our partnership with the School of Nursing has enabled the Campus Learning Center to continue supporting our undergraduates and enhance access to learning support,” said Andy Kane, associate director for Tutoring Services at the VCU Campus Learning Center. “I have had the pleasure of supervising several talented nursing tutors who apply their academic and clinical training to serve as empathetic, knowledgeable, and flexible resources for other nursing students. We aim to build on the success that our students and professional staff have achieved and aspire to be a consistent part of the ongoing student support the School of Nursing provides for its students.”

The school continues to expand the program to offer a wider range of services. Starting in January 2025, students received a full coaching workshop as a part of orientation including a preview of the services available to them as a student in the program. New students also took the Assessment Technologies Institute Critical Thinking Assessment Entrance Exam, a standardized test that assesses critical thinking, judgment, and ability to analyze clinical information. Tierney used results from the test to create a workshop that addressed students' weaknesses and built on their strengths.

Additionally, doctoral and master’s candidates from the Counselor Education program in the School of Education are providing academic coaching resources for nursing students, the school has hired another part-time student success coach to meet growing one-on-one requests, and a tutoring program staffed by graduate students in the Master’s, D.N.P., and Ph.D. programs is set to launch.

Building on these efforts, the school continues to explore new ways to enhance support and implement new strategies to expand resources for student success.

“Dr. Tierney's efforts establishing a foundation for student success has allowed us to now look at other ways to support strategies that enhance the overall learning experience,” said Mark Tanner, D.N.P., RN, associate dean of academic affairs. “We have started a pilot program to look at student performance on the ATI Critical Thinking Assessment and use that information to identify students who may need additional support before they have issues in their courses. By doing this, we hope to continue increasing access and increasing our student retention rates.”

Sharing success and shaping the future

While academic coaching is still a relatively new concept in higher education—especially in nursing—VCU is pioneering the way forward. The school’s academic success coach program is not only systematically implementing sustainable practices that show results but is sharing its success with the broader nursing academic community through presentations, publications and consultations with other nursing schools.

The school is embracing its responsibility to maximize its impact. With plans to continue evolving and building out this initiative and share its results, VCU School of Nursing is demonstrating its focus on student success through innovative educational practices.

"Our academic coaching philosophy isn't about making nursing school easier; it's about providing the support students need to build stronger problem-solving skills, develop resilience, and succeed on their own terms—preparing them to be their most capable and confident selves in their future nursing careers,” Kinser said.