Teacher Rotation and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Uganda

Last registered on May 21, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Teacher Rotation and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Uganda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002998
Initial registration date
May 17, 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
May 21, 2018, 11:02 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Evans School, University of Washington

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
UC Berkeley
PI Affiliation
Makerere University
PI Affiliation
PI Affiliation
UC Berkeley

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2018-02-12
End date
2020-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Can Centralized Teacher Transfers Improve Job Performance? One of the biggest challenges in supplying education services to poor populations is low personnel morale, low engagement and high absenteeism. This problem is particularly severe in Uganda, where teacher absenteeism rates are estimated at 27%. However, Uganda’s district-centralized teacher deployment system, where teachers are transferred every five years and can be placed in any school in a given district, offers a unique opportunity for low-cost motivation of teachers. In partnership with a rural district in Eastern Uganda, researchers will undertake a randomized control trial to study whether rewarding top-performing teachers with a future posting of their choice incentivizes teachers to improve their attendance and the quality of their teaching.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bó, Ernesto Dal et al. 2018. "Teacher Rotation and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Uganda." AEA RCT Registry. May 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2998-1.0
Former Citation
Bó, Ernesto Dal et al. 2018. "Teacher Rotation and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Uganda." AEA RCT Registry. May 21. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2998/history/29762
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-03-23
Intervention End Date
2020-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Teacher attendance, teacher classroom behavior, teacher attitudes, student attendance, student learning achievement, student attitudes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We assess the impact of a placement-for-performance scheme on the behavior of teachers and learning achievements of students in Ugandan primary schools. Specifically, we evaluate alternative incentivized schemes which give top teachers the chance to choose their next (mandatory) posting against the status quo of district government control over teacher transfers.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Public lottery
Randomization Unit
Schools
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
140 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
140 schools, 1,400 teachers and 60,000 pupils
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
47 schools treatment 1, 47 schools treatment 2, 46 schools control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Mildmay Uganda Research & Ethics Committee (MUREC)
IRB Approval Date
2018-01-25
IRB Approval Number
N/A
IRB Name
University of California at Berkeley Committee for Protection of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2017-12-07
IRB Approval Number
2016-12-9412

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