Reducing School Dropout in Honduras

Last registered on June 13, 2025

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Reducing School Dropout in Honduras

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016030

Initial registration date

June 11, 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

June 13, 2025, 8:14 AM EDT

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

Bart de Koning

Affiliation

Cornell University

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Evan Riehl

PI Affiliation

Cornell University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Matt Hall

PI Affiliation

Cornell University

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-05-01

End date

2026-05-31

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

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

Abstract

We evaluate the impact of an after school program called "Atrevete Club". The goal of the program is to reduce the likelihood of dropping out among students who are at risk of doing so. We conduct a randomized field experiment in 10 schools involving 3,816 students who are predicted to be above the median level of dropout risk.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

de Koning, Bart, Matt Hall and Evan Riehl. 2025. "Reducing School Dropout in Honduras." AEA RCT Registry. June 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16030-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2025-05-19

Intervention End Date

2026-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Dropout

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

See pre-analysis plan for details.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

School engagement
Self-reported attendance
Academic performance
Friendships

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

See pre-analysis plan for details.

Experimental Design

The experimental sample is drawn from 7,567 students in grades 7 to 11 at ten schools in Honduras and includes all students with a predicted dropout risk above the median in the whole sample. In addition, the experimental sample is topped up with the next most at-risk students to ensure that there are at least [2.2 times the Atrevete Capacity at the school] students from each school. The factor of 2.2 is chosen so that each school has a control group that is at least as large as the treatment group plus a waitlist that is 20 percent of the size of the treatment group. In total, 3,816 students are included in the experiment, which is a little over half of all students. The reason for not including all students is that the Atrevete Club is targeted at, and expected to be most effective for, at-risk students.

Within the experimental sample, students were randomly chosen for the Atrevete Club at each school. The sample is stratified based on students’ predicted dropout probability (above or below median in the experimental sample) and gender, which gives four strata. For each school and stratum, a proportional number of students is randomly assigned to the treatment group. Since the Atrevete capacity at the school is not always a multiple of four, it is typically not possible to perfectly match the intended assignment rates of the strata. Thus students were randomly assigned to the Atrevete Club up to the largest multiple of four below the capacity constraint, and beyond that students were admitted to the Atrevete Club from the strata that were furthest from the intended ratio one-by-one until capacity was reached.

Next, [0.2 times the Atrevete Capacity at the school] were randomized to the waitlist for each school. In case of non-compliance among students initially assigned to the treatment, students on the waitlist will be assigned to the treatment group in order to the treatment group.

Lastly, remaining students were assigned to the control group for each school.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?