The Effects of Achievement and Growth Information on Perceptions of School Quality:
 Evidence from a Survey Experiment

Last registered on June 05, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effects of Achievement and Growth Information on Perceptions of School Quality:
 Evidence from a Survey Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004252
Initial registration date
May 30, 2019

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
June 05, 2019, 2:39 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
David Houston
Affiliation
George Mason University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Martin West
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Paul Peterson
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Michael Henderson
PI Affiliation
Louisiana State University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-05-09
End date
2020-06-15
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We seek to identify the effects of providing district-level average student achievement information and/or average student growth information on participants’ attitudes towards the public schools in their community. By achievement, we refer to students’ average academic performance at the end of one period of time. By growth, we refer to students’ average rate of improvement in academic performance over the same period of time. This project consists of an online experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey of Americans' attitudes towards education issues.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Henderson, Michael et al. 2019. "The Effects of Achievement and Growth Information on Perceptions of School Quality:
 Evidence from a Survey Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. June 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4252-1.0
Former Citation
Henderson, Michael et al. 2019. "The Effects of Achievement and Growth Information on Perceptions of School Quality:
 Evidence from a Survey Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. June 05. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4252/history/47596
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The experiment contains four parts (see pre-analysis plan for more detail):

1. Participants will estimate their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average achievement and their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average growth (compared to all districts nationwide).
2. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either their district’s average achievement percentile ranking, their district’s average growth percentile ranking, both, or neither.
3. Participants will answer a question about how they would grade the public schools in their community on a scale from A – F.
4. Participants will answer a question about how much schools should focus on student academic performance versus student social and emotional wellbeing.
Intervention Start Date
2019-05-09
Intervention End Date
2019-06-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
There will be two primary outcome measures (see pre-analysis plan for more detail):

1. Local school grade (1 – 5 scale)
2. Relative importance of academic performance (0-100%)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We will also consider participants’ answers to survey questions that occur after the experimental intervention (attitudes towards education spending, policy preferences, etc.).
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants will be randomly assigned with equal probability to one of four experimental conditions (see pre-analysis plan for more detail):

1. Participants will receive their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average achievement (the achievement group).
2. Participants will receive their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average growth (the growth group).
3. Participants will receive both their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average achievement and their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average growth (the both group).
4. Participants will receive neither their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average achievement nor their district’s percentile ranking in terms of average growth (the control group).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The survey research firm, Ipsos, will use the randomization feature of its online survey platform.
Randomization Unit
Individuals
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 3,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
There will be four experimental arms with approximately 750 individuals each.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
With 750 individuals per experimental arm, we will be able to detect average effect sizes of 0.14 with 80% power using two-tailed hypothesis tests (alpha = 0.05)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard University
IRB Approval Date
2019-04-11
IRB Approval Number
IRB19-0507
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: 25590179ede31e8926f636c8e0857bc4

SHA1: 79d996235d383e6660902d0dc646c6b97e208ef5

Uploaded At: May 30, 2019

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