The effectiveness of online tutoring in secondary school: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Last registered on March 30, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The effectiveness of an online mentoring programme on cognitive and non-cognitive skills in secondary school

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007138

Initial registration date

March 29, 2021

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

March 30, 2021, 6:24 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Region

Country

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Claudia Hupkau

Affiliation

CUNEF

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Lucas Gortazar

PI Affiliation

World Bank

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PI Name

Antonio Roldan

PI Affiliation

ESADE

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Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2021-03-16

End date

2022-02-05

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

mentor, online mentor, small group, wellbeing, aspirations, school attitudes, socio-emotional skills

JEL code(s)

I2, I24, J24

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Evidence is mounting that there is a substantial socio-economic gap in learning losses experienced by students as a result of widespread school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research evaluates the effectiveness of an online mentoring program aimed at students from highly disadvantaged schools in Spain. We will randomly assign students to mentors. Students will be taught in groups of two for a duration of eight weeks. We will evaluate the effect of the program both on cognitive as well as non-cognitive outcomes.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Gortazar, Lucas, Claudia Hupkau and Antonio Roldan. 2021. "The effectiveness of an online mentoring programme on cognitive and non-cognitive skills in secondary school." AEA RCT Registry. March 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7138-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention consists mentoring delivered online over the course of 8 weeks (3 hours per week) in groups of 2 students.

Intervention Start Date

2021-04-06

Intervention End Date

2021-06-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

We will study the impact of the intervention on cognitive as well as non-cognitive outcomes:
Cognitive outcomes are measured by scores using a standardized test that will be administered online during school hours. Non-cognitive outcomes will be measured via a self-completion survey to students covering socio-emotional skills, locus of control, aspirations, and wellbeing.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Test score on standardized exam: We have developed two exams (one for each year group participating). These are exams consisting of 6 to 7 questions with multiple choice answers. We will compute the score on the exam and standardize it within each year group.

Subjective wellbeing, aspirations, locus of control: We will construct indices of the aforementioned aspects using answers to several questions in each domain in the endline survey.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Because students are assigned randmly to groups of 2 for their tutoring sessions (within the same classrooms or year group within school) we will further test whether (1) it matters to be matched with someone you consider your friend or not (2) whether the ability match matters (measured through baseline maths test and exam results) (3) whether the gender compisition of the group matters.

Due to the fact that we randomly assign mentors to students, we will study heterogeneous effects of the intervention with respect to mentor-student gender match.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Due to limited financial resources to pay additional mentors and manage additional volunteer mentors, among all students who register interest for the program, only some students will be randmly assigned to a mentor.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

The unit of randomization are individuals. Randomization will be blocked at the classroom or year group level (depending on the number of students registering per classroom in a given school).

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

We have registered interest to participate by about 380 students from 18 schools. These 380 students will be randomly assigned to one of three treatment arms: 1) mentor and 2) control group (no mentoring).

Sample size: planned number of observations

We plan to have 380 pupils in our study.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The targeted sample size is 206 students for the treatment group, and 178 students in the control group.

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

MDES for main outcomes: 29% of a standard deviation (standardized test score in maths)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Research Ethics Committee (CER-URL)

IRB Approval Date

2021-03-11

IRB Approval Number

N/A

Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal