The Effect of Supplemental Instruction on Student Performance in Principles of Economics Classes
Abstract
We randomly assigned supplemental instructors to two out of four sections of principles of economics in the fall of 2012. We examine the effect of supplemental instruction (SI) on student exam scores controlling for instructor, major, credit hours earned, previous GPA, math SAT scores and demographic variables. While other studies have found evidence that SI has positive effects on student outcomes, to our knowledge this is the first study to control for related variables using econometric analysis. Controlling for these variables is important due to the inherent sample selection bias that occurs with a voluntary SI program. The percentage of students with a D, F or W in the SI sections was 24.76%, while the corresponding percentage in the non-SI sections was 35.85%. Based on a sample size of 198 students, we find that being in a section with an SI leads to an increase in a student’s exam average of 2.5 percentage points (p
Location
Room 1220
Recommended Citation
Arias, J. J., "The Effect of Supplemental Instruction on Student Performance in Principles of Economics Classes" (2014). SoTL Commons Conference. 62.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2014/62
The Effect of Supplemental Instruction on Student Performance in Principles of Economics Classes
Room 1220
We randomly assigned supplemental instructors to two out of four sections of principles of economics in the fall of 2012. We examine the effect of supplemental instruction (SI) on student exam scores controlling for instructor, major, credit hours earned, previous GPA, math SAT scores and demographic variables. While other studies have found evidence that SI has positive effects on student outcomes, to our knowledge this is the first study to control for related variables using econometric analysis. Controlling for these variables is important due to the inherent sample selection bias that occurs with a voluntary SI program. The percentage of students with a D, F or W in the SI sections was 24.76%, while the corresponding percentage in the non-SI sections was 35.85%. Based on a sample size of 198 students, we find that being in a section with an SI leads to an increase in a student’s exam average of 2.5 percentage points (p
