Remedying Education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India

Last registered on January 11, 2017
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Remedying Education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001701
Initial registration date
January 11, 2017

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 11, 2017, 3:45 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
India
Region
South Asia

Primary Investigator

Name
Shawn Cole
Affiliation
HBS
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Leigh Linden
PI Affiliation
University of Texas at Austin
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PI Name
Esther Duflo
PI Affiliation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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PI Name
Abhijit Banerjee
PI Affiliation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2001-07-01
End date
2004-12-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Remedial tutoring, Primary school, Computer assisted learning
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This paper presents the results of two randomized experiments conducted in schools in urban India. A remedial education program hired young women to teach students lagging behind in basic literacy and numeracy skills. It increased average test scores of all children in treatment schools by 0.28 standard deviation, mostly due to large gains experienced by children at the bottom of the test-score distribution. A computer-assisted learning program focusing on math increased math scores by 0.47 standard deviation. One year after the programs were over, initial gains remained significant for targeted children, but they faded to about 0.10 standard deviation.
External Link(s)
J-PAL Evaluation Summary: Computer Assisted Learning
J-PAL Evaluation Summary: Remedial Tutoring

Registration Citation

Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit et al. 2017. "Remedying Education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India ." AEA RCT Registry. January 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1701-1.0
Former Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit et al. 2017. "Remedying Education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India ." AEA RCT Registry. January 11. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1701/history/13006
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Remedial education: Government schools are provided with a local teacher a "balsakhi," to work with children in the third and fourth grades who have been identified as falling behind their peers. The instructor typically meets with a group of 15-20 children for two hours a day to focus on basic numeracy and literacy skills. Instructors are provided with a standardized curriculum and receive two weeks of training. Schools participated for 1 or 2 years, and were assigned balsakhis for either grade 3 or 4. The randomization of the treatment was such that some students received the intervention for two years, and some only for one.

Computer assisted learning: A team of instructors from the local community was provided with five days of computer training. These instructors provide children with two hours of shared computer time per week (two children shared one computer) - one hour during class time and one hour either immediately before or after school. During that time, the children play a variety of educational computer games, which emphasizes basic competencies in the official mathematics curriculum. The program focused exclusively on grade 4.
Intervention Start Date
2001-07-01
Intervention End Date
2004-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Test scores (Math and Language), Attendance, Dropout rates
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This paper reports the results from the randomized evaluations of two programs that provide supplementary education inputs to schools. Both programs were implemented by Pratham and targeted children from poor families in urban India.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer randomization
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
310 schools (111 CAL, 199 tutoring)
Sample size: planned number of observations
29,105 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Computer assisted learning:
Control - 56 schools, 3095 students
Treatment - 55 schools, 2850 students

Remedial tutoring Vadodara:
Group A - Grade 3 treated in year 1, grade 4 treated in year 2.
Year 1: 5,264 students in 49 schools.
Year 2 (12 new schools added): 6,071 students in 61 schools.
Group B - Grade 4 treated in year 1, grade 3 treated in year 2.
Year 1: 4,934 students in 49 schools.
Year 2 (12 new schools added): 6,344 students in 61 schools.

Remedial tutoring Mumbai:
Group C - Grade 3 treated in year 1, grade 4 treated in year 2.
Year 1: 2,592 students in 32 schools.
Year 2 (6 new schools added): 5,755 students in 38 schools.
Group D - Grade 3 treated in year 2.
Year 1: 2,182 students in 35 schools.
Year 2 (4 new schools added): 4,990 students in 39 schools.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Study has received IRB approval. Details not available.
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
Details not available
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 31, 2004, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 31, 2004, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
310 schools
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
46,046 students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Balsakhi Year 1: 12,855 students Balsakhi Year 2: 21,936 students Computer Assisted Learning Year 1: 5,732 students Computer Assisted Learning Year 2: 55,23 students
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes
Public Data URL
https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/QIABTVDYCJ&studyListingIndex=1_32787f682c4ae94e7cc302fdb35a

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/QIABTVDYCJ&studyListingIndex=1_32787f682c4ae94e7cc302fdb35a
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Remedying Education: Evidence from two randomized experiments
Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit, Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo, and Leigh Lindon. 2007. "Remedying Education: Evidence From Randomized Experiments in India." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(3): 1235-1264.
URL
http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/122/3/1235.short

Reports & Other Materials