Personalized Mentoring and Educational Equity: Experimental Evidence from a Primary-School RCT in China

Last registered on November 10, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Personalized Mentoring and Educational Equity: Experimental Evidence from a Primary-School RCT in China
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017184
Initial registration date
November 07, 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
November 10, 2025, 9:52 AM EST

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
Esteban Aucejo
Affiliation
Arizona State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Chunchiu Chau
PI Affiliation
Fudan University
PI Name
Xincheng Qiu
PI Affiliation
Peking University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-11-10
End date
2027-08-01
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 an external personalized mentoring model integrated into public primary schools in Shanghai. Students will be stratified and randomly assigned to Treatment (mentor) or Control (business-as-usual). Treated students receive weekly one-on-one mentoring (academic/SEL support, study strategies, goal-setting, and home–school communication). Primary outcomes include standardized academic performance and non-cognitive skills, as well as expectations (all measured through parent, mentor, and teacher surveys and from course grades/exams).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Aucejo, Esteban, Chunchiu Chau and Xincheng Qiu. 2025. " Personalized Mentoring and Educational Equity: Experimental Evidence from a Primary-School RCT in China." AEA RCT Registry. November 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17184-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2025-11-24
Intervention End Date
2026-02-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Academic achievement: standardized school test scores, standardized to z-scores within grade/school/term.

Non-cognitive skills: student grit / acdemic expectations / socio-emotional skills / academic confidence/mental well-being/help-seeking behavior indices constructed from pre-/post-student/parent/mentor surveys. These outcomes will be measured in surveys to parents, mentors, teachers, and students themselves.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Population & setting: Public primary schools in Shanghai; voluntary student sign-up coordinated through schools.
Arms: Among those who show interest in participating in the program, we divide them into (i) Treatment: one-to-one mentoring, (ii) Control: business-as-usual.
Students (grades 1–4 initially), plus matched parents/teachers/mentors for survey modules.
Enrollment: Baseline surveys (student/parent/teacher) prior to randomization; administrative outcomes merged from school records.
Intervention content: Academic support, strategy coaching (e.g., time management, error logs), socio-emotional skills, weekly goals. Mentors trained and supervised.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Stage 1 (T vs. C): Within each class, create 4 strata using gender × prior achievement (above/below median): female-low, female-high, male-low, male-high. Randomize within stratum to Treatment vs. Control.

Stage 2 (mentor matching for treated): Randomly assign mentors to treated students while balancing across strata and respecting mentor capacity. With 4 strata and mentor capacity = 5, fill 4 slots with one treated student sampled at random from each stratum; the 5th slot is drawn by a stratum-weighted random pick based on remaining availability, then a random treated student within that stratum
Randomization Unit
Individual student (Stage 1: student-level T vs. C; Stage 2: student-level mentor assignment). Treatment is not clustered.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
It is uncertain at this stage, but we expect 197 participants in the first round. We expect to increase the number of participants in the following rounds.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We expect to repeat the treatment across different semesters/years/schools in the future to reach at least 500 in the control and 500 in the treatment group, but this is an approximation because it will depend on how many students agree to participate in the program.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

Analysis Plan