Para teachers delivering supplementary lessons in rural primary schools: evidence on impact and generalizability from a cluster randomized controlled trial in the Gambia

Last registered on July 24, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Para teachers delivering supplementary lessons in rural primary schools: evidence on impact and generalizability from a cluster randomized controlled trial in the Gambia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004412
Initial registration date
July 20, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 24, 2019, 11:44 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Teachers College, Columbia University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2015-01-05
End date
2018-06-07
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We report a cluster randomized trial in The Gambia evaluating a literacy and numeracy intervention for primary-aged children in remote parts of poor countries. The intervention combines para teachers, frequent monitoring focusing on improving teacher practice, and scripted lesson plans to deliver after-school supplementary classes. A similar intervention demonstrated large learning gains in a cluster randomized trial in rural India. After three academic years, children receiving the intervention scored 46 percentage points (3.2 SD) better on a combined literacy and numeracy test than control children. This intervention holds great promise to address low learning levels in other poor, remote settings.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Eble, Alex. 2019. "Para teachers delivering supplementary lessons in rural primary schools: evidence on impact and generalizability from a cluster randomized controlled trial in the Gambia." AEA RCT Registry. July 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4412-1.0
Former Citation
Eble, Alex. 2019. "Para teachers delivering supplementary lessons in rural primary schools: evidence on impact and generalizability from a cluster randomized controlled trial in the Gambia." AEA RCT Registry. July 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4412/history/50552
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
At the start of the study, we published our study protocol, including a brief analysis plan, in an open-access, peer-reviewed journal. It can be found here: https://trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13063-015-1081-7
Intervention Start Date
2016-01-01
Intervention End Date
2018-05-09

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The arithmetic mean of the child’s score on Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessment-style tests (also known as EGRA and EGMA tests)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A cluster-randomized controlled trial
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Clusters of geographically proximate villages
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
111 clusters of villages (169 villages)
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,518
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2060 children in the intervention, 2458 in the control (56 intervention clusters, 55 control clusters)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Interventions Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2014-11-24
IRB Approval Number
8767

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials