Impacts of Pre-Primary Education in Rural India

Last registered on April 20, 2023

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Impacts of Pre-Primary Education in Rural India

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0001078

Initial registration date

May 01, 2016

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

May 01, 2016, 8:22 AM EDT

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

Last updated

April 20, 2023, 8:28 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Seema Jayachandran

Affiliation

Northwestern University

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Joshua Dean

PI Affiliation

University of Chicago

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Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2016-05-09

End date

2024-12-31

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

Pre-primary education, kindergarten, scholarships, child development

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study examines the impact of attending two years of kindergarten on child development and primary-school performance. We offer scholarships to attend a Hippocampus Learning Centre private kindergarten to random subset of low-socioeconomic-status children and measure outcomes at baseline, after two years, and after three years.

We also present the results of this experiment to parents residing in villages where Hippocampus operates to study what relative value they place on different types of skills.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Dean, Joshua and Seema Jayachandran. 2023. "Impacts of Pre-Primary Education in Rural India." AEA RCT Registry. April 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1078-6.0

Former Citation

Dean, Joshua and Seema Jayachandran. 2023. "Impacts of Pre-Primary Education in Rural India." AEA RCT Registry. April 20. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1078/history/177401

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention is a scholarship program that pays for the majority of a child's schools fees and materials for two years of kindergarten (lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten) at the local Hippocampus Learning Centres pre-primary school.

We will also present these results to parents residing in villages where Hippocampus operates using videos that either present information about the effect on "higher-order" or "memorizable" skills.

Intervention Start Date

2016-05-09

Intervention End Date

2018-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Primary outcome (main experiment): Child development as measured via tests administered to children

Primary outcome (beliefs experiment): Attendance at local Hippocampus "open house"

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Main experiment: We are administering subtests of several standard child cognitive and non-cognitive tests. Our main outcome will be the simple average of z-scores for the 19 subtests. The z-scores will be constructed by normalizing the control group score for each subtest to have a mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1.

Beliefs experiment: We will measure whether households attend an "open house" at their local Hippocampus.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Main experiment: In each of about 60 villages, children whose families are below a financial-need threshold will be eligible for a two-year scholarship to attend two years of kindergarten at the village Hippocampus Learning Centre. We will randomly give scholarships to half of the eligible students. The scholarship lottery generates randomized variation in attending Hippocampus Learning Centres, and also any kindergarten at all.

Beliefs experiment: We will also present these results to parents residing in villages where Hippocampus operates using videos that either present information about the effect on "higher-order" or "memorizable" skills.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Main experiment: Randomization done in office by a computer, stratified by Hippocampus centre (i.e., village)

Beliefs experiment: Randomization done by SurveyCTO

Randomization Unit

Main experiment: Student

Beliefs experiment: Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Main experiment: about 800 students

Beliefs experiment: all parents residing in villages where Hippocampus is operating with children between the ages of 3.5 and 5.5 who have not yet committed to a pre-primary education choice.

Sample size: planned number of observations

Main experiment: about 800 students Beliefs experiment: all parents residing in villages where Hippocampus is operating with children between the ages of 3.5 and 5.5 who have not yet committed to a pre-primary education choice.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Main experiment: 400 students in control group, 400 students offered scholarship (treatment group)

Beliefs experiment: 1/3 receiving a video with no information about the experiment, 1/3 receiving a video with information about impact on "higher order" skills and 1/3 receiving a video with information about impact on "memorizable" skills.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB