A regression analysis of student motivation and the effect of supplemental instruction on student success

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program on student achievement at a two-year commuter college. SI offers free and optional review sessions lead by upper-level students who have successfully completed the course. The SI program targets historically difficult courses with the intent to increase grades and decrease withdrawal rates. With sessions being optional, however, the program creates a self-selection bias and thus correlations are not sufficient in determining the true impact of the program. When not accounting for this endogeneity concern, there is a positive association between attendance and grades. Similarly, a Baseline Value-Added Education Production Function finds similar relationships while controlling for previous student performance. Using a two-stage least squares regression to account for endogeneity, results do not find SI to be a beneficial program.