How to Scale an Educational Intervention Effectively

Last registered on March 30, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
How to Scale an Educational Intervention Effectively
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011098
Initial registration date
March 23, 2023

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
March 30, 2023, 3:21 PM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Jakob Majlund Holm
Affiliation
Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Simon Calmar Andersen
PI Affiliation
Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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PI Name
Nanna Vestergaard Ahrensberg
PI Affiliation
Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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PI Name
Jesper Asring Jessen Hansen
PI Affiliation
Department of Political Science, Aarhus University
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PI Name
Morten Hjortskov
PI Affiliation
VIVE
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-03-24
End date
2024-10-01
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Many interventions aimed at improving students' reading skills have proven effective in small-scale evaluations. However, when educational interventions include more than a thousand students, effect sizes tend to approach zero. This problem of scalability is recognized in the literature, yet there exists very little systematic, research-based knowledge on how to solve it.

If behavioral interventions cannot scale effectively, the societal value of the rigorous experimental studies is limited. Therefore, it is of utmost importance—and the purpose of this study—to understand how interventions can be made effective at scale.

To study this question, we use an experimental approach where we randomly assign approximately 630 schools including approximately 6,000 students to either (i) a Control condition, (ii) a Treatment-as-Usual condition, or (iii) an Implementation Support condition.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ahrensberg, Nanna Vestergaard et al. 2023. "How to Scale an Educational Intervention Effectively." AEA RCT Registry. March 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11098-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention consist of physical and electronic children's books combined with advice to parents on how to do shared-book reading. Additionally, in one of the treatment groups, the intervention contains support to schools and families in order to facilitate implementation of the program.
Intervention Start Date
2023-03-24
Intervention End Date
2024-10-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcome is children reading test score measured by the national reading test around September 2024.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The Control condition will receive no invitation to participate in the program.

The Treatment-as-Usual condition will receive an invitation to participate but with only the support that have negligible marginal costs (such as e-mail reminders) and limited amount of human capital intensive implementation support.

The Implementation Support condition will receive additional personal, human capital intensive support throughout the intervention period.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
We randomize at the school level
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 630 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 60,000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 420 schools invited, 210 schools control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
H1: With 80% power, alpha-level 5%, and intraclass correlation of 0.15 we have a minimum detectable effect size of 0.166 on the standardized reading test score (with mean 0 and standard deviation of 1). H2: With 80% power, alpha-level 5%, and intraclass correlation of 0.15 we have a minimum detectable effect size of 0.116 on the standardized reading test score (with mean 0 and standard deviation of 1).
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Aarhus Universitets Forskningsetiske Komité (Institutional Review Board)
IRB Approval Date
2021-11-04
IRB Approval Number
2021-99
Analysis Plan

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