An Evaluation of a School Attendance Program for Remote Australians

Last registered on April 27, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
An Evaluation of a School Attendance Program for Remote Australians
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001655
Initial registration date
October 17, 2016

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
October 17, 2016, 6:58 PM EDT

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

Last updated
April 27, 2018, 2:28 PM EDT

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

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Harvard University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Harvard University

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2016-08-01
End date
2017-09-11
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The program being evaluated is an intervention for Australians living in remote areas whose children are chronically absent from school. This study aims to estimate the effects of this program on student attendance patterns.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Goldstein, Rebecca and Michael Hiscox. 2018. "An Evaluation of a School Attendance Program for Remote Australians." AEA RCT Registry. April 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1655-3.0
Former Citation
Goldstein, Rebecca and Michael Hiscox. 2018. "An Evaluation of a School Attendance Program for Remote Australians." AEA RCT Registry. April 27. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1655/history/28910
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
A truancy officer works with the family of a child who is chronically absent from school. The officer and the family form an attendance plan for the child, and if the child's chronic absenteeism continues there may be a cancellation of an income support payment associated with the care of that child.
Intervention (Hidden)
Individuals randomly referred into the program are contacted by a Senior Attendance and Truancy Officer (SATO) working with the Northern Territory Department of Education. The SATO organizes a compulsory conference with the family, where an attendance plan is formed. If the child adheres to the attendance plan, income support payments continue. If the child does not adhere to the attendance plan, they will receive an official notice that their income support payments may be cancelled. If the child continues to be chronically absent, income support payments may be cancelled.
Intervention Start Date
2016-08-01
Intervention End Date
2016-12-16

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
School attendance in the two school terms following the intervention.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Number of days absent from school in the two school terms following the intervention.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Individuals are randomly assigned to the intervention (the number of eligible students exceeded the truancy officer's capacity before the trial began).
Experimental Design Details
The local Northern Territory Department of Education sends us a list each week of children who are eligible for the intervention. We create matched pairs and instruct NT DoE about which individuals are in the treatment group. NT DoE passes this information to the truancy officers.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer. We use non-bipartite matching to create matched pairs.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
100
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 individuals treatment and 50 individuals control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard Committee on the Use of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2015-12-03
IRB Approval Number
IRB15-3388

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