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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
California

Primary Investigator

Name
Christopher Campos
Affiliation
UC Berkeley
Contact Primary Investigator

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
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

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