Personalized Education Mentor Program: Main Randomized Controlled Trial in Meizhou Primary Schools

Last registered on April 24, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Personalized Education Mentor Program: Main Randomized Controlled Trial in Meizhou Primary Schools
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018426
Initial registration date
April 20, 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
April 24, 2026, 8:59 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
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
On going
Start date
2026-04-10
End date
2027-01-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
mentorship, primary education, socio-emotional skills, peer effects, China
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This registration covers the main Phase II randomized controlled trial of a school-based mentorship intervention in Meizhou, China, and is distinct from an earlier pilot conducted in a different location and registered separately. The study population consists of primary-school students in participating schools in Meizhou, covering grades 1 to 6 and approximately 3,147 students in total. The intervention assigns trained mentors to a subset of students during the study period. Randomization occurs in two stages. First, classrooms are randomized within school-by-grade strata into treatment-cluster classrooms or pure-control classrooms. Second, within treatment-cluster classrooms, students are randomized individually into mentorship treatment or within-class control. The primary estimand is the direct mentorship effect, comparing treated students to untreated students within the same treated classroom. A secondary estimand is the spillover effect, comparing untreated students in treated classrooms to students in pure-control classrooms. Primary outcomes include academic achievement based on school administrative performance measures (using administrative scores in Chinese, Math, and English, where available). Secondary outcomes are socio-emotional/non-cognitive indices constructed from the student survey measures (grit, mental health, confidence, help-seeking, self-academic perception, independent thinking, anxiety, social skills, and expectations). The planned sample is approximately 67 classrooms and about 3,147 students.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Aucejo, Esteban, Chunchiu Chau and Xincheng Qiu. 2026. "Personalized Education Mentor Program: Main Randomized Controlled Trial in Meizhou Primary Schools." AEA RCT Registry. April 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18426-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-04-21
Intervention End Date
2026-07-10

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Academic achievement, using administrative scores in Chinese, Math, and English where available (standardized at the relevant level).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes are socio-emotional/non-cognitive indices constructed from the student survey measures (grit, mental health, confidence, help-seeking, self-academic perception, independent thinking, anxiety, social skills, and expectations).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study is a two-stage randomized controlled trial conducted in three primary schools in Meizhou, China. Classrooms are first randomized within school-by-grade strata into one of two classroom environments: treatment-cluster classrooms or pure-control classrooms. The classroom allocation is designed to be as close as possible to a 2:1 ratio of treatment-cluster classrooms to pure-control classrooms, subject to the number of classrooms available in each stratum and integer constraints. Within treatment-cluster classrooms, students are then randomized individually into mentorship treatment or within-class control in an approximately 50:50 ratio. Student-level randomization is stratified by gender and, when the necessary baseline roster is available before assignment, by a coarse baseline achievement indicator. This design yields three final groups: treated students in treated classrooms, untreated students in treated classrooms, and students in pure-control classrooms. The main analysis will focus on the direct mentorship effect, defined as the comparison between treated students and untreated students within treated classrooms. A secondary analysis will examine spillover effects by comparing untreated students in treated classrooms to students in pure-control classrooms. Analyses will include the school-by-grade strata used in randomization, baseline controls where available, and standard errors clustered at the classroom level.

Mentor Randomization: Mentors are also randomized based on mentors' availability. For example, if at a given school on Tuesday, we have 168 students in Grade 1. Based on our 1:6 ratio, we have approximately 28 mentors. These 28 mentors are randomly assigned to these 168 students. We have established four dedicated mentor groups (assigned by day: Tuesday through Friday). Each group is responsible for all sessions on their assigned day to ensure consistency in instruction and logistics. Throughout all sessions, we maintain a strict 1:6 mentor-to-student ratio.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization will be performed by computer using a reproducible script and a fixed random seed after the classroom roster and student roster are finalized. In the first stage, classrooms will be randomized within school-by-grade strata into treatment-cluster or pure-control status. In the second stage, students within treatment-cluster classrooms will be randomized individually into mentorship treatment or within-class control, using stratified randomization by gender and, where available before assignment, a binary baseline achievement grouping.
Randomization Unit
Two levels of randomization are used. The first-stage randomization unit is the classroom. The second-stage randomization unit is the individual student within treatment-cluster classrooms.

We also randomized the assignment of mentors to students as we described above.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
67 classrooms in total. The first-stage randomization occurs at the classroom level.
Sample size: planned number of observations
3147 pupils
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 67 classrooms will participate. The planned classroom allocation is as close as possible to 2:1, implying about 44 treatment-cluster classrooms and about 23 pure-control classrooms, subject to school-by-grade integer constraints. Within treatment-cluster classrooms, students will be assigned approximately 50:50 to mentorship treatment and within-class control. This implies three student groups: treated students in treated classrooms, untreated students in treated classrooms, and students in pure-control classrooms. Because class sizes are uneven and assignment is stratified, final counts may differ slightly from these approximations.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Experimental Evidence on the Effects on Mentor Support
IRB Approval Date
2025-11-06
IRB Approval Number
PKU GSM-IRB reference code: #2025-36
Analysis Plan