Mentoring and Schooling Choices: Experimental Evidence from Italy

Last registered on February 12, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Mentoring and Schooling Choices: Experimental Evidence from Italy
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015306
Initial registration date
February 05, 2025

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
February 12, 2025, 9:31 AM EST

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
Michele Giannola
Affiliation
University of Naples Federico II
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Tullio Jappelli
PI Affiliation
University of Naples Federico II
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PI Name
Monica Langella
PI Affiliation
University of Naples Federico II
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PI Name
Roberto Nisticò
PI Affiliation
University of Naples Federico II
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PI Name
Lorenzo Pandolfi
PI Affiliation
University of Naples Federico II
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PI Name
Valeria Zurla
PI Affiliation
University of Naples Federico II
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-11-01
End date
2027-05-28
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project studies the potential of mentoring programmes to improve students' education outcomes and their transition to post-secondary education. It does so by evaluating My Future Buddy (MFB), a bundled intervention consisting of (i) information provision, (ii) career counselling, and (iii) soft-skills training, targeting secondary school students in Southern Italy. The program integrates in-school sessions delivered by trained psychologists, with in-person and remote sessions delivered by volunteer university students who graduated from the same province (and possibly high school) of target students, and act as "buddies" or "mentors". Using a randomised controlled trial, we will evaluate the impact of the intervention on short- and long-term educational outcomes, student's psychological well-being, socio-emotional skills, aspirations and beliefs, and post-secondary choices.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Giannola, Michele et al. 2025. "Mentoring and Schooling Choices: Experimental Evidence from Italy." AEA RCT Registry. February 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15306-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-01-15
Intervention End Date
2025-05-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The main outcomes of interest include: students' academic records (from administrative data), socio-emotional skills, life satisfaction and wellbeing, motivation, study effort, aspirations and expectations, and post-secondary schooling choices (from survey data).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will evaluation MFB using a randomized controlled trial. We will use over-subscription to the program, due to the limited availability of slots, to randomly allocate students to a treatment and a control group. Randomization to the program is stratified by school, and clustered at the class level.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer (using STATA).
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the class.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Around 215 classes.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Around 3500 students.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment: around 100 classes
Control: around 115 classes
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico I - Comitato etico per la ricerca con soggetti umani in campo non biomedico
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-26
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan