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What do parents value in schools? Evidence from the Zones of Choice
Last registered on October 11, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information
General Information
Title
What do parents value in schools? Evidence from the Zones of Choice
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004844
Initial registration date
October 10, 2019
Last updated
October 11, 2019 11:32 AM EDT
Location(s)

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Primary Investigator
Name
Christopher Campos
Affiliation
UC Berkeley
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Other Primary Investigator(s)
Additional Trial Information
Status
On going
Start date
2019-09-16
End date
2020-12-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
I20, I21, I24, I29, L15, D70, D83
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Selecting schools is arguably one of the most important decisions parents make for their children. In the aggregate, collective decisions made across households distort the incentives of schools, and in extreme cases, schools are incentivized to exert more effort in recruiting high-achieving students than they are affecting any outcomes families may care about. This project directly assesses the factors parents value most in a setting where they are actively making enrollment decisions through a centralized assignment mechanism. We evaluate what margins of information had the strongest impact on changing submitted preferences to learn about what factors matter most to parents.
External Link(s)
Registration Citation
Citation
Campos, Christopher. 2019. "What do parents value in schools? Evidence from the Zones of Choice." AEA RCT Registry. October 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4844-1.0.
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details
Interventions
Intervention(s)
Distribute information to households and assess how the information changed their preferences. In the long-run, assess how the information affected other outcomes both while in school and afterward.

Intervention Start Date
2019-10-02
Intervention End Date
2019-10-09
Primary Outcomes
Primary Outcomes (end points)
Short-run: Preferences
Long-run: Test scores, SAT scores, graduation, college enrollment, labor market outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Secondary Outcomes
Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Experimental Design
Experimental Design
1. Collect baseline preferences and other baseline characteristics

2. Two-stage randomization of information to detect spillovers
a. Randomize school-level saturation
b. Randomize treatment to families within schools

3. Assess the impact of information on outcomes and check for spillovers
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization was done in the office on a computer.
Randomization Unit
Two levels
1. School
2. Individuals
Was the treatment clustered?
No
Experiment Characteristics
Sample size: planned number of clusters
52 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
13015
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
20 Pure control group schools
16 Low saturation treatment schools
16 High saturation treatment schools

1906 Receive incoming achievement school-level information
1906 Receive achievement growth school-level information
2641 Receive both
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB
INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS (IRBs)
IRB Name
Committee for Protection of Human Subjects - UC Berkeley
IRB Approval Date
2019-09-11
IRB Approval Number
0006252
Analysis Plan