Do children with disabilities have equal access to mainstream schools? Evidence from a French correspondence test

Last registered on October 07, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Do children with disabilities have equal access to mainstream schools? Evidence from a French correspondence test
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019829
Initial registration date
September 28, 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
October 07, 2026, 10:14 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
Naomie Mahmoudi
Affiliation
Université Lyon 1
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sophie Mitra
PI Affiliation
Fordham University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-10-25
End date
2026-11-22
Keywords
Education, Health
Additional Keywords
disability, access to school, correspondence test, special needs teaching assistant
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
To better understand the difficulties faced by children with disabilities in accessing the French mainstream education system, we will conduct a field experiment (a correspondence test) in metropolitan France, in the overseas departments, regions and territories.

The experiment will consist of sending an information request email, on behalf of fictitious parents, to a random and representative sample of schools. The email will be addressed to the head teacher and will request a phone call about a future enrolment in CE1 (the second year of primary school) following a planned move to the area.

Three experimental conditions will be distinguished: (i) no specific information about the child, (ii) a mention of a disability, and (iii) a mention of a disability together with a need for support from an AESH (Accompagnant d'élève en situation de handicap, i.e. a special needs teaching assistant) as part of the Personalised Schooling Plan (in French, Plan Personnalisé de Scolarisation).

Using the experimental data collected, we will analyse whether outcomes differ depending on the condition mentioned, in terms of the rate of positive responses, response times, and the quality of the responses provided by head teachers when a response is given.
Heterogeneity analyses will also be conducted, notably by administrative region, school status (public or private), and geographic setting (rural, peri-urban, or urban).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mahmoudi, Naomie and Sophie Mitra. 2026. "Do children with disabilities have equal access to mainstream schools? Evidence from a French correspondence test." AEA RCT Registry. October 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19829-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-10-25
Intervention End Date
2026-11-22

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
receiving a positive response, response time, and the quality of the response received
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Using a correspondence test conducted in France, this study examines whether children with disabilities are treated differently from other children when their parents try to enrol them in mainstream primary school.

Thus, a fictitious informational email from fictitious parents was sent to head teachers of primary schools, both public and private. The email stated that, because of an upcoming move to the area, the parents wished to arrange a phone call with the head teacher of the school their child might attend. It specified that the child would enter CE1 class. A mention of the child's disability was randomly added to some emails and, in those cases, a notification of a need for an AESH (Accompagnant d'élève en situation de handicap, i.e. a special needs teaching assistant) in the child's Personalised Schooling Plan (in French Plan Personnalisé de Scolarisation) was also randomly added.

We compare emails sent by parents of children with and without disabilities on three outcomes: the rate of positive responses, response time, and the quality of the response received. We also examine whether mentioning an AESH notification affects these outcomes, and whether results vary by the school's location.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The mention of the child's disability in the fictitious information request email, as well as that of a notification of a need for an AESH in the Personalised Schooling Plan, was randomly assigned to each tested school using a computer. Likewise, 15% of the schools in each region were tested, and these schools were selected by random draw.
Randomization Unit
School
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
5878 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
5877 observations
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2,939 emails sent with no mention of disability ; 1,469 emails sent mentioning the child's disability but not a need for an AESH ; 1,469 emails sent mentioning the child's disability and a need for an AESH
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Comité d'éthique de la recherche de la ComUE Université de Lyon (CER-UdL)
IRB Approval Date
2026-07-20
IRB Approval Number
2026 05 21 005
Analysis Plan