Teaching economics to the masses: The effects of student help centers on academic outcomes

Many institutions of higher education have some form of voluntary peer tutoring. There have been a number of efforts to examine the effects of such programs on student outcomes. Many of these fail to acknowledge the possibility of self-selection bias. Should such endogeneity exist, estimates regarding the extent to which help centers improve student performance will be biased. We examine the determinants of student participation in peer tutoring among students taking Principles of Economics, and we test for self-selection bias. Finally, we examine the factors that affect student performance in these classes over two semesters - approximately 1400 students. We find that students who live a greater distance from campus are less likely to participate; student ethnicity and gender also affect this choice. We also find that the number of visits to our help center is exogenous. Finally, we find that supplemental instruction significantly improves student performance.