DOES CIVIC EDUCATION IMPACT PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ CIVIC OUTCOMES? EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM LIBERIA

Last registered on July 10, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
DOES CIVIC EDUCATION IMPACT PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ CIVIC OUTCOMES? EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM LIBERIA
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013817
Initial registration date
June 14, 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
June 24, 2024, 1:50 PM EDT

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

Last updated
July 10, 2024, 1:59 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Liberia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Sorana Acris
Affiliation
New York University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Elisabeth King
PI Affiliation
New York University
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PI Name
Alejandro Ganimian
PI Affiliation
New York University
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PI Name
Kate Marple-Cantrell
PI Affiliation
The Cloudburst Group
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-09-25
End date
2024-06-24
Keywords
Education, Post-conflict
Additional Keywords
civic education, Liberia
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
A new civic education curriculum is being implemented in public primary schools in Liberia by the country’s Ministry of Education (MoE) and local implementing partners (IPs). The civic education intervention—which includes teachers receiving textbooks, teacher guides, and training on the new civic education curriculum and students receiving textbooks and classroom instruction—will last five years and aims to ultimately reach 10 percent of Liberian primary school students. This program is being piloted in 70 public primary schools in the 2023–2024 school year in three counties: Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Nimba. We are conducting an impact evaluation (IE) through a randomized controlled trial to understand the program’s impacts on students’ civic outcomes. We randomly assigned 140 schools - 70 to receive the civic education program and 70 to serve as control schools that do not receive the program. The evaluation aims to inform further scale-up of the program in Liberia. The review of existing literature also demonstrates the wider need to better understand the impact of civic education in low-income emerging democracies and post-conflict settings, especially at the primary school level.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Acris, Sorana et al. 2024. "DOES CIVIC EDUCATION IMPACT PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ CIVIC OUTCOMES? EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM LIBERIA." AEA RCT Registry. July 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13817-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The civic education intervention to be evaluated entails 1) teachers receiving textbooks and training on the new civic education curriculum and 2) students receiving textbooks and classroom instruction. In addition, monthly or bi-monthly school visits will be conducted by the implementing partner to monitor teachers’ adherence to the curriculum and determine where additional teacher training or support may be needed.
Intervention Start Date
2023-09-25
Intervention End Date
2024-06-24

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
student civic knowledge, student civic attitudes, student civic behaviors
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
teacher pedagogical practices
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The sample for the study included 140 schools stratified equally by county (44 schools in Grand Bassa, 48 in Montserrado, and 48 in Nimba). We randomly assigned 140 schools in the sample either to a treatment group (70 schools that are receiving the intervention in the 2023–2024 school year) or to a control group (70 schools that are not receiving it). In the 70 treatment schools, all grade three and grade four students will receive the intervention. In the 70 control schools, no students in grade three or grade four, or in any other grade, will receive it.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
140 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
2100
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
70 treatment schools, 70 control schools
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Atlantic Center for Research & Evaluation Institutional Review Board - University of Liberia
IRB Approval Date
2023-05-05
IRB Approval Number
FWA00032198
Analysis Plan

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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