The effects of evidence-based information on school leaders' perceptions about educational technology

Last registered on April 28, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The effects of evidence-based information on school leaders' perceptions about educational technology
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013482
Initial registration date
April 26, 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
May 09, 2024, 1:21 PM EDT

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

Last updated
April 28, 2025, 10:58 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Daniela Bresciani
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ariel Kalil
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
PI Name
Susan Mayer
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-04-23
End date
2024-09-30
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Educational Technology
JEL code(s)
I28, D90
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Previous research found evidence that high quality math apps have the potential to increase children's math skills. This project evaluates whether sharing this research-based information with school and district leaders affects their perception about the use of educational technology for PreK and K students. We invite school and district leaders across several school districts in the US to take a one-time survey, which includes questions about the use of educational technology in their current schools/districts, and a video embedded in the survey. We randomize the participants into a treatment and a control group. The video that participants in the treatment group watch describes math apps and provides research-based evidence about their effects on children’s learning experience and math skill. The video that participants in the control group watch only describes math apps, without providing evidence. We then compare treatment and control participants on three outcomes: (i) how likely participants are to recommend math apps, (ii) how much they would be willing to spend on math apps, and (iii) if they are interested and willing to invest more time learning about math apps.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bresciani, Daniela, Ariel Kalil and Susan Mayer. 2025. "The effects of evidence-based information on school leaders' perceptions about educational technology." AEA RCT Registry. April 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13482-1.1
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-04-23
Intervention End Date
2024-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Hoy likely the participants are to recommend math apps
2. How much the participants are willing to spend on math apps
3. Interest of the participants to learn more about math apps
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
1. Participant’s answer to a question from the survey asking how likely the participant is to recommend math apps to PreK-K students for learning at home (values between 1 and 10).
2. Participant’s answer to a question from the survey asking how much the participant is willing to spend from school funds per student in order to provide math apps for students (values from $1 to $10)
3. Interest and willingness of the participant to learn more about math apps. For this outcome the survey asks the participants if they are interested in attending webinar hosted by researchers about the selection of high-quality math apps. The specific outcomes obtained from this question are:
a. Binary variable indicating if the participant reported being interested in attending this webinar.
b. Binary variable indicating if the participant attended the webinar or watched the recording of the webinar.
c. Continuous variable indicating how much time the participant spent watching the webinar or its recording.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The project consists on a randomized controlled trial, where school leaders who agree to answer a one-time survey will be randomized into a control or treatment group. Both groups will have a video embedded in the survey. The treatment group video will describe math apps and share the results of a research study about the effectiveness of math apps. The control group video will just give other neutral information describing math apps.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by survey platform (Qualtrics)
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
150 school/district leaders
Sample size: planned number of observations
150 school/district leaders
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
75 in treatment, 75 in control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Social and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2024-02-26
IRB Approval Number
IRB24-0151
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-analysis plan principals.pdf

MD5: 01d6ef7baea51b470b4a83d3fa39a72c

SHA1: 701f90047a13463b1039b802234b37ac89cad463

Uploaded At: April 26, 2024

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