After-School Tutoring and Human Capital Development:Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China

Last registered on January 12, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
After-School Tutoring and Human Capital Development:Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012811
Initial registration date
January 09, 2024

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
January 12, 2024, 1:05 PM EST

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

Last updated
January 12, 2024, 10:15 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
China
Region
Hubei

Primary Investigator

Name
Chunchao Wang
Affiliation
School of Economics and Jinan University—University of Birmingham Joint Institute, Jinan University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
yao wang
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator
PI Name
jiahui chen
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2018-03-05
End date
2018-06-25
Keywords
Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
After-school services; tutoring; human capital; field experiment
JEL code(s)
C93; I21; J24; Z13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The equitable provision of effective after-school tutoring is crucial for fostering the accumulation of human capital in children. This study utilizes data from a randomized controlled trial conducted in China to explore the impact of after-school tutoring, facilitated by school teachers, on the development of children’s human capital. Our findings indicate that tutoring provided by teachers not only enhances the math scores of students in the treatment group by 0.134 standard deviations but also contributes to a 0.116 standard deviation increase in their non-cognitive abilities, particular in terms of conscientiousness. Notably, the positive effect on math score improvement is more pronounced among students with initially lower abilities. Through mechanism analysis, we identify the enhancement of children’s learning engagement and increased parental involvement as key channels through which the tutoring intervention bolsters human capital development in students. Further analysis reveals that school-provided tutoring additionally serves to reduce the expenditure of families on private tutoring services.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
chen, jiahui, yao wang and Chunchao Wang. 2024. "After-School Tutoring and Human Capital Development:Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China." AEA RCT Registry. January 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12811-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
we conduct an 16-week randomized experiment for students in Y county in China, where some randomly chosen students are provided an opportunity to participate in a 40-minute after-school tutoring, conducted by teachers.
Intervention Start Date
2018-03-05
Intervention End Date
2018-06-25

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Students’ academic achievements and non-cognitive abilities.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly chose 22 local elementary schools to conduct an after-school tutoring intervention, focusing on students who were at their grades 3 to 5. In total, we have a sample that is composed of 2,902 students, with 507 students belong to the treatment group in the experimental classes, 1,375 students belong to the control group in the experimental classes and 1,020 students belong to the control group in the control classes. For students in the treatment group, we arranged for two teachers to provide Chinese and math tutoring on Thursday and Friday afternoons, respectively. The tutoring was held in separate classrooms by grade and lasted for 40 minutes after school. During the tutoring, the teachers’ duties included helping students to review what they had learned during the week and assisting students completing their homework, while no new knowledge were allowed to be taught during the process of tutoring.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We randomly choose 507 students and provide them access to a 40-minute after-school tutoring conducted by teachers.
Randomization Unit
class
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
22 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
22 schools
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
507 students are treatment group 2395 students are control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Department of Economics, Jinan University
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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