Quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Youth (QualiTY) Schools Accreditation Procedure

Last registered on June 15, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Youth (QualiTY) Schools Accreditation Procedure
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011530
Initial registration date
June 08, 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
June 15, 2023, 4:25 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
Patrick McDonald
Affiliation
ETH Zürich
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ursula Renold
PI Affiliation
ETH Zürich
PI Name
Katherine Caves
PI Affiliation
ETH Zürich
PI Name
Mahesh Nath Parajuli
PI Affiliation
Kathmandu University School of Education
PI Name
Prakash Paudel
PI Affiliation
Kathmandu University School of Education

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-06-09
End date
2026-07-15
Keywords
Education, Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Vocational Education schools in Nepal are widespread but quality control and accreditation are lacking. As a part of the Quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Youth (QualiTY) project, 280 schools are to be selected to undertake an accreditation procedure, under the assumption that this will lift school quality and ultimately outcomes for graduates, especially in underprivileged groups.
To effectively evaluate the impact of the accreditation procedure, schools will be selected for treatment through a stratified randomization process, where schools are first sorted into blocks based on geographic region and school type, then randomized into treatment and control groups. Schools will complete a survey on quality measures and student outcomes at the beginning of the procedure to create a baseline measure, and will be re-interviewed annually through the course of the project, until 2026.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Caves, Katherine et al. 2023. "Quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Youth (QualiTY) Schools Accreditation Procedure." AEA RCT Registry. June 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11530-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Treated schools will begin a TVET accreditation procedure that is designed to improve schools quality and graduate outcomes. The 280 schools begin treatment at different times, distributed across the four years of the project: 15% in the first year, 20% in the second, 25% in each of the third and fourth years.

The accreditation procedure itself constitutes the intervention. Of the 280 treated schools, it is expected 250 will receive accreditation by the end of the project.
Intervention Start Date
2023-07-01
Intervention End Date
2026-07-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Quality measures - enrolment numbers (overall/by gender/disadvantaged groups); existence of school strategy and improvement plans, teacher and staff satisfaction, qualification and retention rates.
School graduation rates
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Accreditation of school
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Schools are placed in blocks based on their school type and geographical location. There are 5 school types:
Constituent: Schools belonging to and run directly by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT)
Partnership: Schools run locally in partnership with CTEVT
TECS: Technical sections of general secondary schools with express aim of educating dropouts, from disadvantaged groups especially. Administered by CTEVT.
Affiliated: Private technical schools with CTEVT affiliation.
Technical stream: general schools run by Ministry of Education with options for students to take technical classes.

Geographical location is based on province. The seven provinces are divided into two groups:
Group 1: Bagmati, Koshi, Lumbini Provnices: ca. 60% of Nepal's population, generally more urban.
Group 2: Gandaki, Karnali, Madhesh, Sudurpaschim Provinces: ca. 40% of Nepal's population, generally more rural/mountainous.

Schools are divided into 10 blocks based on their type and geographical location. There are significantly more Technical stream schools than all others and TECS and Affiliated groups are larger than Constituent and Partnership groups. Schools are therefore treated as follows:
Approximately 50% of Constituent schools receive treatment
Approximately 50% of Partnership schools receive treatment
Approximately 25% of Affiliated schools receive treatment
Approximately 25% of TECS receive treatment
Approximately 15% of Technical stream schools receive treatment

Treated schools are distributed so that approximately 60% are in Province Group 1; 40% in Province Group 2; respecting the population distribution of Nepal.

Schools must be actively delivering TVET to be considered: schools with enrolment of less than 10 students are dropped from the sample.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization by computer (excel) - carried out in zoom meeting with project collaborations and recorded.
Randomization Unit
Schools
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
10 school type/region groups
Sample size: planned number of observations
1178 schools
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Province Group 1 constituent schools: 34 schools, 18 treated
Province Group 1 partnership schools: 21 schools, 11 treated
Province Group 1 TECS schools: 153 schools, 39 treated
Province Group 1 Affiliated schools: 165 schools, 42 treated
Province Group 1 technical stream schools: 308 schools, 47 treated
Province Group 2 constituent schools: 28 schools, 15 treated
Province Group 2 partnership schools: 18 schools, 9 treated
Province Group 2 TECS schools: 216 schools, 54 treated
Province Group 2 Affiliated schools: 86 schools, 22 treated
Province Group 1 technical stream schools: 149 schools, 23 treated
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We assume a power of 0.8, an effect size variability of 0.05, and R2 of 0.25. Given the unit of observation is at the school level, we assume low levels of non-response and non-compliance. MDES for the full sample is 0.26. For a 90% compliance rate, 0.27. We note that given there is little previous empirical work in this field it is difficult to contextualize this figure.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan