ÈXIT Estiu 2016: Evaluating the effect of texting parents to improve educational results

Last registered on October 27, 2017
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
ÈXIT Estiu 2016: Evaluating the effect of texting parents to improve educational results
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002238
Initial registration date
October 27, 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
October 27, 2017, 2:12 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Spain
Region
Catalonia

Primary Investigator

Name
Miquel Alegre
Affiliation
Ivàlua
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Anna Segura
PI Affiliation
Ivàlua
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Federico Todeschini
PI Affiliation
Ivàlua
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2016-06-01
End date
2016-09-30
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Education, family involvement, nudge
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
School drop outs and grade repetition are important problems in Catalonia, being significally higher than in the rest of the EU. The existing evidence suggests that programs that involve families in students' education are more likely to have positive impacts. On another note, the nudge thoery tells us that positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions can produce important changes in people's behavior.

A nudge was introduced in the Èxit Estiu program, which offers free teaching during summer to pupils that have to retake exams. The nudge consists of sending SMS messages to parents, encoraging them to become more involved in their childrens' education. The Catalan Institute of Public Policy Evaluation (Ivàlua) used a randomized evaluation to test wether this low intense intervention would increase the number of successful subject passes in the retake exams of September 2016. Families were randomized into receiving informative text messages, receiving sensitizing text messages or not receiving any text messages.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Alegre, Miquel, Anna Segura and Federico Todeschini. 2017. "ÈXIT Estiu 2016: Evaluating the effect of texting parents to improve educational results." AEA RCT Registry. October 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2238-1.0
Former Citation
Alegre, Miquel, Anna Segura and Federico Todeschini. 2017. "ÈXIT Estiu 2016: Evaluating the effect of texting parents to improve educational results." AEA RCT Registry. October 27. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2238/history/22766
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention consist on sending SMS to the parents of the participants of Exit Estiu summer school program. The messages sent were of two types: Sensitizing messages, emphasising the importance of the retake exams in September, and informative messages, providing basic information on the program. Students' families received 6 messages during the summer school.
Intervention Start Date
2016-07-01
Intervention End Date
2016-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
* Graduation rate
* Number of subjects passed
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Families were randomized into receiving informative text messages, receiving sensitizing text messages or not receiving any text messages. The effectiveness of the program was assessed by comparing the mean differences between the three randomly assigned groups regarding the number of successfully passed retake exams and the graduation rate, controlling for some demographic variables.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization method was pure randomization, done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Student
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1113
Sample size: planned number of observations
1113
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
371 received sensitizing SMS.
371 received informative SMS.
371 students in the control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
August 31, 2016, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
August 31, 2016, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
1113 students
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
1113 students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
371 students sensitizing SMS. 371 students informative SMS. 371 students control group.
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials