The Nutrition-sensitive Aspect of the "Development of Sustainable School Feeding” Project in Armenia

Last registered on November 19, 2018
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Nutrition-sensitive Aspect of the "Development of Sustainable School Feeding” Project in Armenia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003581
Initial registration date
November 19, 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
November 19, 2018, 10:52 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Armenia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Harold Alderman
Affiliation
IFPRI
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Heather Knauer
PI Affiliation
Univ ofMichigan
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-11-01
End date
2019-05-25
Keywords
Education, Health
Additional Keywords
school feeding, preschool learning, early child development
JEL code(s)
j13, i20 h43
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The study will assess the impact of a preschool snack added to the current school meal program in Armenia. The assessment will be based on a randomized controlled trial [RCT] in three provinces with relatively high poverty levels and high rates of under 5 anemia. This will allow a causal assessment of this component of the school feeding project.
The initial round of the RCT will focus on assessing the fluid intelligence of 0 grade students at midmorning. The same group of children (around 1200 students) will again be tested near the end of the school year (Spring 2019) to assess crystallized intelligence, that is, tests that are designed to assess school readiness.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Alderman, Harold and Heather Knauer. 2018. "The Nutrition-sensitive Aspect of the "Development of Sustainable School Feeding” Project in Armenia ." AEA RCT Registry. November 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3581-1.0
Former Citation
Alderman, Harold and Heather Knauer. 2018. "The Nutrition-sensitive Aspect of the "Development of Sustainable School Feeding” Project in Armenia ." AEA RCT Registry. November 19. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3581/history/37540
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Schools will be provided funds for a snack proportional to preschool enrollment along with a suggested list of foods items for snacks. Cheese, eggs and similar products are recommended; sugary snacks are discouraged. The snacks will be provided daily around mid-morning. There are 50 schools pairwise randomized to the treatment and 50 control schools.
Intervention Start Date
2018-11-01
Intervention End Date
2019-05-25

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Fluid intelligence as well as crystallized intelligence
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The tests that will be employed are listed above.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
All schools in three provinces selected on poverty were visited to ascertain if any provided a snack through community organizations. These few schools were not listed in the sample frame, nor were schools with less than 6 students. All other schools in the provinces were paired on the basis of location and size and pairwise randomization was used to selected treatment schools for a sample of 50 treatment schools and 50 control schools. In each school a random sample of 12 children in grade 0 will be selected to testing. In the event that the school has less than 12 students, all children in the grade will be sampled. These children will be tested in both rounds. The children who are not selected for the testing will still be included in similar games and will also receive the same ‘stickers’ as the others. This will reduce any sense of stigma. First graders were similarly selected randomly to be tested in the beginning first round of data collection

Assuming an inter-cluster correlation [ICC] of 0.12, the sample is powered to detect a significant difference in effect size of 0.25 with p<0.05. While it may be desirable to seek a smaller MDES, it is likely impractical given the number of schools available in the provinces and the size of the student body in many schools. The assumed ICC was based on a review of tests for preschool children, mainly from Latin America; no similar information is available for Armenia nor is there an international repository of such correlations
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Pairwise randomization (pairs determined by locale and size). A computerized 'coin fli'p was used to select which school in each pair received the treatment.
Randomization Unit
Treatment randomization was on the school level. Randomization of student was base on listing and a randomized starting point on the list.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
50 treatment and 50 control schools.
Sample size: planned number of observations
12 students per school. However, as some schools will be smaller, around 500 children per arm are anticipated.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 treatment and 50 control schools.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
ssuming an inter-cluster correlation [ICC] of 0.12, the sample is powered to detect a significant difference in effect size of 0.25 with p<0.05. While it may be desirable to seek a smaller MDES, it is likely impractical given the number of schools available in the provinces and the size of the student body in many schools. The assumed ICC was based on a review of tests for preschool children, mainly from Latin America; no similar information is available for Armenia nor is there an international repository of such correlations
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Yerevan State University Academic Council on Ethics
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-02
IRB Approval Number
ԷՀ-06/02.11.2018
IRB Name
International food Policy Research Institute
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-17
IRB Approval Number
IRB #00007490
Analysis Plan

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