Mathematics Support Use and Classroom-Relative Performance in First-Year University Mathematics

Summary

An observational study of \(n=6{,}627\) first-year mathematics students linking same-period mathematics-support use to classroom-relative academic performance while keeping self-selection and non-causal interpretation explicit.

Context

The dominant empirical pattern is a separation between no recorded support use and positive use, with weaker evidence for a monotone dose-response among students who already use the service.

Main contributions

• Aligns support-centre visits to the same academic period as the focal first-year mathematics attempt.
• Standardizes outcomes within instructor-course-period classrooms to reduce grading-context incomparability.
• Reports positive-use versus non-use differences using Welch/Games–Howell comparisons and classroom fixed-effect models without claiming a causal tutoring effect.