Aprender Valor: impact evaluation of a financial education programme for elementary schools

Last registered on November 02, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Aprender Valor: impact evaluation of a financial education programme for elementary schools
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010340
Initial registration date
October 31, 2022

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
November 02, 2022, 5:35 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-04-11
End date
2024-03-01
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This trial aims to measure the impact of a financial education programme for elementary school students in Brazil. The programme consists of training for teacher and school managers and offering classroom material that presents financial education content transversally to 3 regular disciplines: Mathematics, Portuguese and Human Sciences. Sampling and randomization were made at the school level from a list of schools who had enrolled in the programme. A total of 783 schools were randomly assigned to 2 treatment arms: control and treatment. The study will measure the proficiency in financial literacy for students in 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th grades analysed by IRT (item response theory). Tests were produced specifically for the Programme using a reference matrix for financial literacy for each grade evaluated pre and post intervention.

Registration Citation

Citation
Almeida, Raquel Melo de et al. 2022. "Aprender Valor: impact evaluation of a financial education programme for elementary schools." AEA RCT Registry. November 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10340-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The Aprender Valor Programme consists of 2 axes of intervention: classroom material and teacher training. Classroom material encompasses packages of 6-12 classes that are set up with the financial education content presented in a transversal manner to the discipline content. Packages for Portuguese, Mathematics, and Human Sciences (Geography) are offered for all 9 grades of elementary school (students from 6 to 14 years old). Training in how to implement these transversal themes into the school teaching, personal financial education and how to apply the classroom packages are offered for both teachers and school managers and are certified by the federal university that is a partner to the programme. The target group of the programme is students from 1st to 9th grades of public elementary schools in Brazil. The intervention intends to enhance the financial literacy of students and build capacity for school teachers and managers to include financial education as a transversal theme into their teaching.

In this RCT, intervention will consist in these 2 axes: teacher training and application of the packages of classes with financial education content prior to the final data collection. The target group of the RCT are students in 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th grades in a sample of the schools that volunteered to participate in the program in 2022.
Intervention Start Date
2022-04-11
Intervention End Date
2022-10-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Final impact will be measured upon the financial literacy proficiency level of students in 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th grades.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Proficiency levels will be measured from financial literacy tests set specifically for the programme. The tests are composed of items produced based on a reference matrix that was designed for measuring financial literacy in these specific grades and results will be analysed according to the IRT (item response theory).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Proficiency levels of Mathematics and Portuguese
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Proficiency levels will be measured from tests composed of items from a pool of pre tested items of the Center for Public Policies and Educational Assessment at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (CAEd/UFJF). Results will be analysed according to the IRT (item response theory).

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The impact evaluation will be conducted as a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with 2 treatment arms. The Control Group will participate in both cycles of evaluation of the study and will be able to access the Programme´s training and classroom resources once both cycles are concluded. The Treatment Group will have access to training and classroom resources at the end of the 1st evaluation cycle.
Target Sample Group are elementary public schools who have spontaneously enrolled to the Programme from November 2021 until March 2022.
Sample size is 783 schools, 52,100 students.
Recruitment of participants followed the organic process of enrolment of the Programme. Aprender Valor managers negotiated the participation of subnational networks of education – be it State or Municipal Education Secretariats. These partner networks together with Programme managers communicate the Programme to schools. Those school principals who are interested enrol their schools through the Programme´s online platform. The final sample of schools was drawn from the list of schools enrolled in the programme from November 1st, 2021 to March 2, 2022. This research used systematic sampling approach that resulted in 783 schools in 353 municipalities in 24 Brazilian states.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer considering the stratification by Geographic Region and Rural/Urban areas.
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
783 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
52,100 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Trial includes 386 schools in the control group and 397 schools in the treatment group totalling 1,042 classes of 25 students in each treatment arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The minimum detectable effect size is 20 points in a proficiency scale anchored at 500 points with standard deviation of 100.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

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