Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Among Young Learners

Last registered on January 28, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Among Young Learners
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016011
Initial registration date
January 21, 2026

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 28, 2026, 6:57 AM EST

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

Last updated
January 28, 2026, 1:40 PM EST

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

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Daniela Bresciani
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sebastián Gallegos
PI Affiliation
Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Michelle Michelini
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Ariel Kalil
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Mauricio Koechlin
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-09-01
End date
2028-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
Early childhood education
JEL code(s)
I20, D90
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Chronic absenteeism has reached alarming levels post-pandemic and is now a pressing national policy concern. Most interventions aimed at mitigating absenteeism focus on children in elementary or secondary school. This is unfortunate because rates of absenteeism are just as high among children in preschool and kindergarten. The proposed research implements a large-scale randomized controlled trial to test an intervention to reduce chronic absenteeism among preschool and kindergarten children in low-income families. The proposed experimental research will implement and evaluate a scalable intervention with 2,400 families in preschool and kindergarten over eight months. Our two main outcomes are attendance rate and a measure of chronic absenteeism. We will also assess whether the program improves student test scores and reduces behavioral referrals. Through a partnership with Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS), we will collect administrative data on attendance and academic outcomes for our sample through our cohort’s 1st grade school year. Upon successful completion of our study, we will be well-positioned to scale our program across preschool networks and school districts nation-wide.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bresciani, Daniela et al. 2026. "Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Among Young Learners." AEA RCT Registry. January 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16011-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our intervention implements a series of messages sent to caregivers over eight months. These messages are carefully designed to motivate parents to take their children to school every school day. We will send text messages to parents’ phones via SMS or WhatsApp depending on their preference to be as accessible as possible. Parents in the treatment group will receive 3 messages per week. Parents in the control group will not receive messages. We know from our prior work this frequency of interaction with parents by text is acceptable to parents. We will deliver the program in Spanish or English, depending on the parents’ preference.
Intervention Start Date
2025-10-01
Intervention End Date
2026-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Attendance rate: we will compute the attendance rate for each child over the intervention period by taking the ratio of the number of days attended to the number of days enrolled in school.
- Chronic absenteeism: we will compute a binary variable indicating if the child has missed on at least 10 percent of school days over the year, since this is the modal definition of chronic absenteeism. However, we will also consider different thresholds given the nature of enrollment and attendance in preschool and kindergarten.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
- Test scores: individual standardized test scores will be collected from the district’s administrative records, from the intervention year through 1st grade. The district administers the Cognitive Toy Box in preschool and NWEA MAP in K-1st grade in the fall, winter, and spring.
- Behavioral referrals: information on behavioral infractions will be collected from the district’s administrative records, from the intervention year through 1st grade. The definition of behavioral infractions varies by school but typically includes behaviors such as abusive language/profanity, fighting, and other disruptive behaviors.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Between subjects design, where 1200 people are randomly assigned to the treatment group and 1200 are assigned to the control group.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual (parent-child pairs)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2400 parent-child pairs
Sample size: planned number of observations
2400 parent-child pairs
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1200 treatment arm, 1200 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
For chronic absenteeism at the 90% attendance threshold the MDE is 0.055. For attendance rate the MDE is 0.02. For attended days the MDE is 1.99.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Chicago Social and Behavioral Sciences IRB
IRB Approval Date
2025-06-10
IRB Approval Number
IRB25-0599
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

SUGU III PAP May 19 2025.docx

MD5: f33a6b7a87ee8437fa95ecfba791a065

SHA1: 5b27b6ad46ab516a18438d8b623ae6fb870409e7

Uploaded At: May 19, 2025

SUGU III PAP Updated December 19 2025

MD5: 112b922717cac5587a4e3093054f5e48

SHA1: 7585f2e0bec56894e190e0271b34d6770d0aa06f

Uploaded At: January 28, 2026