Developing systems to reduce student absenteeism: Experimental evidence from Argentina

Last registered on June 19, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Developing systems to reduce student absenteeism: Experimental evidence from Argentina
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006005
Initial registration date
June 18, 2020

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
June 19, 2020, 11:27 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Argentina
Region
Mendoza

Primary Investigator

Name
Alejandro Ganimian
Affiliation
New York University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lindsay Page
PI Affiliation
University of Pittsburgh
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2021-03-01
End date
2022-12-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Student absenteeism, texting, behavioral economics, Argentina
JEL code(s)
C93, I21, I22, I25
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We propose to conduct a randomized evaluation of a texting intervention to notify parents when their children miss school in the Province of Mendoza, Argentina. The province already has an online platform to which teachers regularly upload attendance information. We plan to leverage this platform to send weekly text messages to parents of students in public primary schools.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ganimian, Alejandro and Lindsay Page. 2020. "Developing systems to reduce student absenteeism: Experimental evidence from Argentina." AEA RCT Registry. June 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6005-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Both interventions will offer parents the possibility of receiving weekly text-messages to encourage students' attendance to school, but they will differ in the information presented. Schools assigned to the treatment group will be offered the intervention in all primary-school grades (i.e., grades 1 to 7) to allow us to later examine treatment heterogeneity by grade.

All experimental groups will receive a "test message" early in the 2021 school year. This message will serve two purposes: (a) it will allow us to identify invalid cell-phone numbers, so that we can let schools know the names of students whose contact information needs to be updated; and (b) it will allow parents to opt out of the program (using a default "opt in").

In the control group, the parents of children who have been absent on a given week will not receive any text messages. The objective of including this group is to understand how the effect of each of the interventions described below compares to that of a ``business-as-usual'' condition, in which parents do not receive any direct communication from schools, but are in theory able to log into the online portal of the province to check their children's absences.

In the total absences (T1) group, the parents of children who have been absent on a given week will receive a text message informing them of their child's absences that week and the absences accumulated during the school year. The objective of this intervention is to understand whether student absenteeism is due to a lack of awareness among parents about the number of schooldays missed by their children, and if so, whether conveying information about absences can raise awareness and lead parents to take steps to reduce their children's absences.

In the reminder (T2) group, the parents of children who have been absent on a given week will receive a text message informing them of the consequences of student absenteeism, and conversely, of the importance of regular attendance to school. The objective of this intervention is to understand whether student absenteeism is due to a low salience of the importance of regular school attendance among parents, and if so, whether simply reminding them of that importance can raise its salience and lead parents to take steps to reduce their children's absences.
Intervention Start Date
2021-03-01
Intervention End Date
2021-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Student attendance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly assigned the schools in our sample to a control group, which will not receive the intervention, or to one of two treatment groups: (a) an information (T1) group, which will receive information on the total number of absences (per week and overall); or (c) a reminder (T2) group, which will be reminded on the importance of school attendance. We stratified our randomization by department.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
509 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
269,082 students in primary education (grades 1 to 7)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
167 schools in control group and 342 schools in both treatment groups (172 schools in T1 and 170 schools in T2).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
New York University
IRB Approval Date
2020-05-06
IRB Approval Number
IRB-FY2019-3254
Analysis Plan

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