The Short‐term Effectiveness of a Remedial Mathematics Course: Evidence from a UK University

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. Evidence from a UK University * Whilst in the US there is a growing debate about the effectiveness of remedial university courses, this issue is less questioned in the UK. Using a regression discontinuity approach and data from a large School of a post-1992 UK university, we estimate the effect of remediation on student outcomes. We find no evidence that attending a math remedial program improves student performance in the first year. This finding is consistent and complements that of a recent study by Lagerlöf and Seltzer (2009), which is based on data from a pre-1992 UK university. Taken together, these results may call for a review of the remediation policy offered at university level in the UK.JEL Classification: A22, I20

Should we trust math preparatory courses? An empirical analysis on the impact of students’ participation and attendance on short- and medium-term effects

“…Several evaluation studies, particularly in the US or UK, estimate eects of remedial programs nding mixed results. Studies that nd positive eects of remediation on math skills are, for instance, Boatman and Long (2018) or Scott-Clayton and Rodriguez (2015), while Martorell and McFarlin (2011) or Di Pietro (2014) just nd minor eects or no eects at all. Reasons for the lack of evaluation studies in Germany are probably data issues.…”

Increasing the effect of a remedial mathematics course by switching to an online format during the COVID-19 crisis: evidence from a German university

“…The effect of mathematics preparatory courses on students' mathematics performance is controversial. International studies on mathematics remediation often focus on remediation courses taking place during the semester, which are mandatory for students with low entry skills (Di Pietro, 2014;Bahr, 2008;Lagerlöf & Seltzer, 2009), which is a different situation from voluntary preparatory courses taking place before the start of the regular semester.…”

The Impact of a Mathematics Bridging Intervention on the Inclusivity of a University Economics Programme

“…The few European studies show no greater consensus about the effectiveness of remedial mathematics courses for raising student performance within the study of Economics. While Lagerlöf and Seltzer (2009) and Di Pietro (2014) found little or no effect, De Paola and Scoppa (2014), Laging and Voßkamp (2017), (Büchele 2020a) and (Büchele 2020b) found positive effect from participation in a remedial course. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, there is no European study investigating the key pedagogical issue of what aspects of remedial courses are important in enhancing student achievement.…”