The Evening Tutoring Center at the United States Air Force Academy

TL;DR

The USAFA's Evening Tutoring Center provides after-hours academic support for first and second year cadets in STEM disciplines, showing promising early results in improving cadet performance.

Contribution

This paper introduces a dedicated after-hours tutoring center at USAFA focused on STEM courses, staffed by faculty, with initial positive impact on cadet academic performance.

Findings

High early demand for tutoring services

Cadets using the center perform better in mathematics

The center supports first and second year STEM education

Abstract

The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) has opened an Evening Tutoring Center to provide after-hours tutoring every evening before class days. The center focuses on first and second year courses in challenging quantitative disciplines: mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering mechanics. Staffed exclusively by faculty-level instructors, the center offers extra instruction to all first and second year cadets. Early demand has been remarkable, and early indications are that cadets who visit the center for extra instruction in mathematics perform better than peers with comparable backgrounds.