The Effect of Supplemental Instruction on Academic Performance: An Encouragement Design Experiment

Abstract

While randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for impact evaluation, they face numerous practical barriers to implementation. In some circumstances, a randomized-encouragement design (RED) is a viable alternative, but applications are surprisingly rare. We discuss the strengths and challenges of RED and apply it to evaluate a mature Supplemental Instruction (SI) or PASS (Peer Assisted Study Session) program at an Australian university.A randomly selected subgroup of students from first-year courses (