unavailable experiment

Last registered on February 05, 2025

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

Evaluating the Impact of Educational Instructions and Teacher Supervision on Children's Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Development during the COVID-19 Pandemic

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0015327

Initial registration date

February 04, 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 05, 2025, 9:34 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

China

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Matthew Chan

Affiliation

Wuhan University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2020-01-01

End date

2024-05-01

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of an educational intervention designed to support young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the lockdown, children were unable to attend school in person, which affected their learning and development. In this study, we provided weekly educational instructions to children in kindergarten through a mobile platform, with some groups also receiving additional teacher supervision. The study focuses on measuring the impact of this intervention on both cognitive skills (such as literacy and numeracy) and non-cognitive skills (such as emotional regulation and social skills). We tracked the children's progress at several points, including during the intervention, and followed up with them over the next few years as they entered primary school. Our goal is to understand how these educational interventions can help children during challenging times and whether the benefits last into their future academic and personal development.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Chan, Matthew. 2025. "Evaluating the Impact of Educational Instructions and Teacher Supervision on Children's Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Development during the COVID-19 Pandemic." AEA RCT Registry. February 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15327-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2020-01-25

Intervention End Date

2020-04-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Primary Outcomes (End Points)

Cognitive Skills:

Literacy: Measured through assessments of Chinese character recognition, Pinyin understanding, and basic word recognition.
Numeracy: Measured through basic arithmetic skills, including number recognition, addition, and subtraction.
Non-Cognitive Skills:

Big Five Personality Traits: Assessed through teacher evaluations based on children’s behavior during play and interactive activities, focusing on traits such as emotional regulation, self-control, agreeableness, and social interaction.
Academic Performance (Long-term):

Primary School Grades: Specifically, final exam scores in Chinese language and mathematics during follow-up assessments in the second and fourth years after the intervention.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This study uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of educational interventions on children's cognitive and non-cognitive development during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intervention consisted of weekly educational instructions provided through a mobile platform (WeChat), with one subgroup receiving additional teacher supervision to ensure completion of tasks.

The trial involved 60 kindergarten classes from urban and rural schools across C City. These classes were randomly assigned to either a control group (no intervention) or one of two treatment groups: (1) a group receiving only educational instructions, and (2) a group receiving both educational instructions and teacher supervision.

Key outcomes include cognitive skills (literacy and numeracy), non-cognitive skills (measured using the Big Five personality traits), and long-term academic performance (final exam scores in Chinese language and mathematics). Data were collected at multiple time points: during the intervention, immediately after, and at follow-up assessments two and four years later, when the children entered primary school.

The experimental design allows for the comparison of treatment effects on academic and personal development outcomes across different intervention conditions, with an emphasis on both immediate and long-term effects. The study aims to assess the potential for mobile-based educational interventions to mitigate learning disruptions during the pandemic.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

class

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

100 classes

Sample size: planned number of observations

2417 students

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

50 classes control, 50 classes received instruction only, and 50 classes received both instruction and supervision

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

IRB Approval Date

IRB Approval Number

Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal