Knowledge and Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Retention

Last registered on January 21, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Knowledge and Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Retention
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002412
Initial registration date
January 23, 2018

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 25, 2018, 2:29 PM EST

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

Last updated
January 21, 2019, 7:18 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Chicago

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Pennsylvania
PI Affiliation
University of Michigan

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2015-02-01
End date
2019-04-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Federal loan forgiveness programs for teachers are an underutilized resource for recruiting and retaining teachers in high-need schools. Increasing awareness and participation in these programs can be an effective strategy to improve teacher quality in high-poverty public schools in Michigan. We intend to contact 11,000 teachers in Michigan with information about the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program (TLF) and their eligibility. We want to know if providing eligible teachers with clear, timely information about TLF and/or support in submitting applications will: (a) increase the fraction of eligible teachers who apply for and obtain TLF; and (b) increase teacher retention in high-needs public schools in Michigan.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Jacob, Brian, Damon Jones and Benjamin Keys. 2019. "Knowledge and Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Retention." AEA RCT Registry. January 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2412-3.0
Former Citation
Jacob, Brian, Damon Jones and Benjamin Keys. 2019. "Knowledge and Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Retention." AEA RCT Registry. January 21. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2412/history/40400
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2015-02-01
Intervention End Date
2018-08-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Change in TLF application rate; change in teacher retention rate
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We decided on a two-pronged information treatment. We first sent each teacher in the treatment group a letter, addressed to them personally at their school address. The letter included: (a) a generic cover letter from MDE, (b) a sheet showing the teacher's personal eligibility status based on the MDE data we analyzed, which also listed various resources for the teacher regarding TLF, (c) a color brochure highlighting key pieces of information about TLF in a simple, transparent and eye-catching way, and (d) a link to a Frequency Asked Questions (FAQ) document.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization for both school and individual-level treatments were done in Stata with seeds set by a true random number generator
Randomization Unit
School; individual
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2015: informational mailing sent to ~11000 teachers (~23000 teachers randomized at the school-level)

2016: survey sent to ~23000 teachers

2017: informational mailing sent to ~11000 teachers (~23000 teachers randomized at the school-level; 2015 treatment status stratum added)

2017: informational calls delivered to an attempted ~2500 teachers (~11000 teachers randomized 1) at the school-level and 2) at the individual-level)

[Planned] 2018 survey sent to ~23000 teachers
Sample size: planned number of observations
23,000 teachers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
11,000 teachers in the treatment group
12,000 teachers in the control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Michigan Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences IRB
IRB Approval Date
2015-01-09
IRB Approval Number
HUM00097229

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials