Scaling Up an Early Literacy Intervention

Last registered on August 31, 2021

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Scaling Up an Early Literacy Intervention
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005113
Initial registration date
November 24, 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
November 25, 2019, 10:33 AM EST

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

Last updated
August 31, 2021, 8:18 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of British Columbia

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
World Bank
PI Affiliation
Center for Global Development
PI Affiliation
University of Michigan

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-11-25
End date
2022-08-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
The lack of adequate literacy preparation is a key risk factor for poor performance in primary school worldwide (Behrman et al, 2006). Even in Kenya, one of the best-educated populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, only 34% of preschool children meet language and numeracy development milestones (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2013). The proposed research builds on a cluster-randomized evaluation of an early literacy intervention that combined dialogic reading training for parents of young children with mother tongue children’s storybooks. Participation in the early literacy program was over 89% of targeted households under intensive researcher-managed recruitment, with 91% of participants being mothers and other female caregivers. Short-term results show that the intervention improved language development and school-readiness, particularly for children of illiterate primary caregivers. The present trial is aimed at identifying pathways for effective scale-up by testing 1) whether public pre-primary school teachers can improve participation by illiterate parents whose children would most benefit from the program, and 2) whether a bundled father encouragement recruitment strategy can increase participation of fathers and other male caregivers. The results of the trial will inform potential integration of the intervention into ongoing reforms of the pre-primary curriculum and come at the request of county-level government officials who are enthusiastic about the program.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Jakiela, Pamela et al. 2021. "Scaling Up an Early Literacy Intervention." AEA RCT Registry. August 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5113-1.4000000000000004
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-11-25
Intervention End Date
2020-02-29

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participation in the dialogic reading training
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
71 school catchment areas have been cross-randomized to fall into one of four categories, father recruitment bundle+teacher mobilization strategy, father recruitment bundle only, teacher mobilization strategy only, neither
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer
Randomization Unit
School catchment area
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
71
Sample size: planned number of observations
The trial works in the same communities as the cluster randomized trial AEARCTR-0004425 where all parents of children aged 2 to 6 will be invited to attend. 1477 households in the existing sample currently have children aged 2 to 6 in the 71 school catchment areas.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
18 - father recruitment bundle+teacher mobilization strategy
18 - father recruitment bundle only
18 - teacher mobilization strategy only
17 - neither
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
UC Berkeley Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2015-05-29
IRB Approval Number
2014-09-6699
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Analysis Plan

MD5: de0b96b832a2ef5768678ffd7efd319b

SHA1: c1348381185e4fba374a070e8541980458850d2c

Uploaded At: February 04, 2020

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