How parents choose schools: Evidence from the high-school admissions process in Romania

Last registered on August 02, 2019

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

How parents choose schools: Evidence from the high-school admissions process in Romania

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004496

Initial registration date

July 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

August 02, 2019, 3:41 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Romania

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Rajeev Dehejia

Affiliation

New York Univeristy

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Miguel Urquiola

PI Affiliation

Columbia University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Cristian Pop-Eleches

PI Affiliation

Columbia University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Robert Ainsworth

PI Affiliation

Columbia University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-06-03

End date

2019-12-31

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

I21

Secondary IDs

Abstract

In this pre-analysis plan we describe an experiment we are implementing in Romania to investigate whether parents and/or children use information about schools' value added in making school choices, in particular in choosing a high school track, which in Romania is assigned by a cutoff rule based on a national admissions score. We do this by providing information about the value added of high school choices to a randomly assigned treatment group, and then comparing their track choices to those of a control group that did not receive the information.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Ainsworth, Robert et al. 2019. "How parents choose schools: Evidence from the high-school admissions process in Romania." AEA RCT Registry. August 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4496-1.0

Former Citation

Ainsworth, Robert et al. 2019. "How parents choose schools: Evidence from the high-school admissions process in Romania." AEA RCT Registry. August 02. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4496/history/51152

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention takes place at an information session at middle schools to which parents of middle school children are invited. In the control group, no information is provided, and parents complete only a baseline survey. In the treatment group, parents first complete the baseline survey and are subsequently presented with information about the concept of value added, and told the within-town rank of value added of their high school track choices. After receiving the information, parents in the treatment group are asked again to rank their track choices.

Intervention Start Date

2019-06-03

Intervention End Date

2019-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Perceived value added of high school tracks, high school track choice ranks

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Parents are asked to rate each high school track's value added with respect to their child passing the baccalaureate exam on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 representing a low perceived value added, and 5 a high perceived value added. Parents report how they ranked their available high school track choices, from most to least preferred.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Perceived value added of high school tracks in a follow-up survey

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

In a follow-up survey we will again ask parents to rank their child's high school track choices by value added.

Experimental Design

The intervention takes place at an information session at middle schools to which parents of middle school children are invited. In the control group, no information is provided, and parents complete only a baseline survey. In the treatment group, parents first complete the baseline survey and are subsequently presented with information about the concept of value added, and told the within-town rank of value added of the high school track choices. After receiving the information, parents in the treatment group are asked again to rank their track choices.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization by computer

Randomization Unit

Middle schools

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

The 228 middle schools corresponding to 280 individual classes. We expect non-participation at the school level of 10% to 30%.

Sample size: planned number of observations

We expect an interview rate of 15 to 20 students per class, so approximately 3630 to 4840 students. We expect a follow-up interview rate of 50% to 60%.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

We study 228 middle schools. Of these, 114 are randomly assigned into the treatment group and 114 into the control group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

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