Pilot Study - The Impact of a Personalised Application on Newly Arrived Immigrant Students' Learning, Integration and Development

Last registered on December 06, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Pilot Study - The Impact of a Personalised Application on Newly Arrived Immigrant Students' Learning, Integration and Development
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012656
Initial registration date
December 05, 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
December 06, 2023, 9:06 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
France
Region
Paris, Créteil, Lille, Strasbourg

Primary Investigator

Name
Alexandre Touw
Affiliation
Université Paris-Dauphine
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Flore Gubert
PI Affiliation
IRD
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alice Mesnard
PI Affiliation
City University of London
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-10-02
End date
2024-04-01
Keywords
Education, Other
Additional Keywords
Immigrant Children, Integration, Digital Application
JEL code(s)
I24, J15
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Conceived by researchers in cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics and designed by LearnEnjoy, a French start-up specialised in the development of educational digital applications for children with specific needs, the School application aims to facilitate the integration of newly arrived allophone pupils by (i) providing them with personalised pedagogical content allowing them to progress at their own pace, (ii) training their teachers in the use of the application in the classroom and (iii) training their parents in the use of the application to increase their involvement in their children’s education. The full-scale project plans to randomize the deployment of the application and these trainings over the period 2023-2025. The impact will be assessed on (i) child development, learning and integration, (ii) parental involvement in education and social inclusion, as well as (iii) teaching practices in a multicultural context. The pilot study is first deployed during the period 2023-2024 in 4 French academic regions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gubert, Flore, Alice Mesnard and Alexandre Touw. 2023. "Pilot Study - The Impact of a Personalised Application on Newly Arrived Immigrant Students' Learning, Integration and Development." AEA RCT Registry. December 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12656-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The interventions consist of (i) training parents and teachers in the application and (ii) distributing tablets to allophone pupils with the startup's application so that they can use it in class.
In order to be able to estimate separately the effects of (i) implementing the application in classrooms through the change in teaching practices and the effects of (ii) the use of the application by parents as an increase in parental involvement, we deploy the intervention between three treatment arms consisting of :

[T1] Introducing a digital tablet to students in class with the application and train the teachers so that they can adapt their teaching practices ;
[T2] Providing a digital tablet to students with the application and train both parents and teachers.
[T3] Control group. The teachers will be trained and tablets will be given to students after data collection for ethical reasons.
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-30
Intervention End Date
2023-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Child development:
• French language proficiency
• School grades, student’s progress, national evaluations
• Social-emotional skills & relationships with other children at school
• Absenteeism

Parents’ involvement in the child’s education and SES situation :
• Time spent working supporting the child
• Participation to collective meetings, school report meetings
• Relationship with the teacher

Teaching practices
• Willingness to train in digital technology
• The integration of digital technology
• Barriers to the use of digital technology Teacher’s survey
• Collaborative practices among teachers
• Practices to foster students’ collaboration
• Teachers’ sense of self-efficacy (digital integration)
• Teaching in a multicultural setting
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Inside each French academic regions, teachers of French as a foreign language who volunteer for the project are randomly assigned to one of the following three groups consisting of :

[T1] Introducing a digital tablet to students in class with the application and train the teachers so that they can adapt their teaching practices ;
[T2] Providing a digital tablet to students with the application and train both parents and teachers.
[T3] Control group. The teachers will be trained and tablets will be given to students after data collection for ethical reasons.

Students and their parents are randomly assigned to their teacher's group. Parents' consent is collected by a consent form translated in families mother tongue.
For the pilot phase, teachers had the opportunity to enrol within each academy as they went along. The random draw therefore took place within each academy as and when the lists of teachers were finalised.
For the full-scale study, teachers will be drawn at random in a stratified way by academy at once.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
For the pilot phase: randomisation done in an office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Teachers
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
4 French academic regions for the pilot study.
Sample size: planned number of observations
For the pilot study : 350 students for 20 teachers in 4 French academic regions
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
For the pilot study : 116 students per treatment arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Paris School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2023-01-13
IRB Approval Number
2023-001
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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