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Early intervention in college classes and improved student outcomes

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  • Gordanier, John
  • Hauk, William
  • Sankaran, Chandini

Abstract

This research investigates the effectiveness of an early academic intervention in Principles of Economics courses at a large public university. After the end of the fourth week of classes, students who fell below a 70% threshold on a performance measure, or had an attendance rate below 75%, were referred to the university's Student Success Center for additional academic support. A referral consisted of students being informed of their status and being given optional assistance in course specific skills through tutoring, as well as training in general skills like time management and study skills. Using a regression discontinuity framework at the referral threshold, we find that the performance intervention improved student scores on common questions on the final exam by 6.5 to 7.5 percentage points for students at or near the performance threshold. The gains are particularly large for students who entered college with below average math placement scores. These results indicate that low-cost light-touch interventions may significantly affect student academic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordanier, John & Hauk, William & Sankaran, Chandini, 2019. "Early intervention in college classes and improved student outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 23-29.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:72:y:2019:i:c:p:23-29
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2019.05.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pugatch, Todd & Wilson, Nicholas, 2020. "Nudging Demand for Academic Support Services: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Higher Education," GLO Discussion Paper Series 675, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Kuo, Sylvia, 2022. "The impact of distributed homework on student outcomes," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    College education; Student academic performance; Intervention; Economic education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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