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Field
Trial Status
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Before
completed
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After
on_going
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Field
Abstract
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Before
The learning crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented. As governments seek to address the learning loss, so far, we know tutoring has been a widely proposed solution because it has proven to have a big positive effect on learning. We propose an RCT which can contribute to the literature of tutoring by looking at the interactions between interventions such as tutoring and tracking, and how socio emotional learning can affect the student’s self-perception. Additionally, we can contribute to the very limited existing causal literature on peer tutoring and its effects on learning. Given that the number of tutors that we can recruit may vary, we add a treatment arm that uses Khan Academy and very limited interaction with tutors to ask questions on office hours. We will be working with primary school students grades 3 and 6 and focusing on math tutoring. The tutors will be recruited among the universities and normal schools of the participant states.
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After
The learning crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented. As governments seek to address the learning loss, so far, we know tutoring has been a widely proposed solution because it has proven to have a big positive effect on learning. We propose an RCT which can contribute to the literature of tutoring by looking at the interactions between interventions such as tutoring and tracking, and how socio emotional learning can affect the student’s self-perception, as well as group peer effects. Additionally, we can contribute to the very limited existing causal literature on peer tutoring and its effects on learning. We will be working with k-12 school students from 3rd to 12th grade and focusing on math tutoring. The tutors will be recruited among the universities and normal schools across Mexico.
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Trial End Date
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Before
August 01, 2021
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After
July 01, 2023
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Last Published
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Before
August 10, 2021 10:19 AM
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After
February 28, 2023 09:42 AM
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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
We will recruit tutors (volunteers of universities and normal schools seeking to meet their social service requirements) assign them into WhatsApp groups of 5 kids that will meet 2 times a week. Tutors will be instructed to serve as a support to the teacher and if the teacher doesn’t ask for help in a specific topic then tutors can make use of a protocol that we will provide which will contain exercises and activities that they can do with the students. All tutors will receive initial training on how to teach math and socio-emotional development and we will also create a platform that tutors can use to communicate among each other and share tips and questions. We will try out different versions of these tutoring sessions, some will have an important socio emotional component. In some treatment arms students will be assigned to tutoring groups randomly and in others they will be assigned based on their performance on the baseline evaluation. In one treatment arm we will have a version of peer tutoring and in a last treatment arm the ratio student tutor will be considerably bigger and we will assign students to a Khan Academy class and offer office hours to solve questions.
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After
We will recruit tutors (volunteers of universities and normal schools seeking to meet their social service requirements) assign them into WhatsApp groups of 5 kids that will meet 2 times a week. Tutors will be instructed to revise topics that students are studying in class, or past topics that the students are not clear on and needed to understand their curriculum. All tutors will receive initial training on how to teach math and socio-emotional development and we will also create a platform that tutors can use to communicate among each other and share tips and questions. We will try out different versions of these tutoring sessions, some will have an important socio emotional component. In some treatment arms students will be assigned to tutoring groups randomly and in others they will be assigned based on their performance on the baseline evaluation.
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
July 14, 2021
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After
July 01, 2023
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Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Outcomes: 1) Learning measured by the Math and Spanish score on standardized evaluation PLANEA (same evaluation used in previous years to evaluate the educational system). We will apply this evaluation before and after the intervention. 2) Self-perception measured by the answers of a survey. 3)Student tutor interactions measured by using a machine learning approach to extract information of the recordings of the tutoring sessions
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After
Outcomes: 1) Learning measured by the Math and Spanish score on standardized evaluations constructed by us based on questions from PLANEA, a national test. We will apply this evaluation before and after the intervention. 2) Self-perception measured by the answers of a survey. 3)Student tutor interactions measured by using a machine learning approach to extract information of the recordings of the tutoring sessions
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Grades will be randomly assigned to treatments and tutors too. The they will be randomly matched within each group. Randomization will be stratified based on baseline scores and connectivity of students.
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After
Grades will be randomly assigned to treatments and tutors too. Then they will be randomly matched within each group. Randomization will be stratified based on baseline scores, gender, and past participation in other iterations of tutoring program by the same group.
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Field
Randomization Unit
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Before
The unit of randomization will be school grade.
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After
The unit of randomization will be at the student level.
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
We have 300 school and two grades in each school so 600 units.
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After
We have around 16,000 students. Number subject to change due to open enrollment of both tutors and students
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
Within each grade we have an average of 40 students so we will be working with around 24,000 students.
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After
Around 16,000 students. Number subject to change due to open enrollment of both tutors and students
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
85 grades (meanind 3rd or 6th grade of schools) in each treatment arm.
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After
4,000 kids in socio emotional learning (SEL) + tracking
4,000 kids in socio emotional learning (SEL) + no tracking
4,000 kids in just math + no tracking
4,000 kids in just math + tracking
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Field
Power calculation: Minimum Detectable Effect Size for Main Outcomes
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Before
running simmulations with historical data we have an MDE of 0.17 standard deviation in math scores.
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After
running simmulations with historical data we have an MDE of 0.070 standard deviation in math scores with no attrition, and 0.084 with 30% attrition.
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Field
Intervention (Hidden)
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Before
Tutors: we will recruit tutors (volunteers of universities and normal schools seeking to meet their social service requirements) assign them into WhatsApp groups of 5 kids that will meet between 2 times a week. Tutors will be instructed to serve as a support to the teacher and if the teacher doesn’t ask for help in a specific topic then tutors can make use of a protocol that we will provide which will contain exercises and activities that they can do with the students. All tutors will receive initial training on how to teach math and socio-emotional development and we will also create a platform that tutors can use to communicate among each other and share tips and questions.
● Track vs no track. Once schools are assigned to the tutor treatment they will be randomized into two groups. In the first group we will use the baseline evaluation to sort student from worst to best performing and then divide groups accordingly. In the no track arm we will divide groups randomly allowing for heterogeneity in the composition of the groups.
● Affective vs non affective. In schools assigned to affective treatment tutors will be told to use the first 10 to 15 minutes of their sessions with students to ask them about how they are feeling what they are interested in and also talk about themselves their studies and work. We will also provide suggestions to do activities to develop non-cognitive skills (still have to define them).
● Peer 3-3, 6-6. The tutor will be assigned 6 students and he will organize them in random pairs that will stay together throughout the semester. Every week 3 students will be the experts on a topic they will receive supplemental material and exercises to study that topic. They will meet at the beginning of the week with the tutor to solve questions. Next session everyone is going to meet and experts will pair up with their teammate to explain them the new topic and solve the exercises. The tutor will join one of the pairs and be an observer. each week he will join another pair. Everyone will have a small homework. next week the non-experts will become experts and receive supplemental material to learn the new topic when they weet with the tutor he will have a chance to clarify questions not only of the new topic but also of the topic taught last week.
● Khan Academy: This question arises as scaling up a tutoring intervention with a 1 to 5 ratio is not really feasible in Mexico where the majority od the population does not hold a degree. We decided to try out a widely used platform but add office hours for students to clear out doubts with a tutor.
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After
Tutors: we will recruit tutors (volunteers of universities and normal schools seeking to meet their social service requirements) assign them into WhatsApp groups of 5 kids that will meet between 2 times a week. Tutors will be instructed to revise topics that students are studying in class, or past topics that the students are not clear on and needed to understand their curriculum. All tutors will receive initial training on how to teach math and socio-emotional development and we will also create a platform that tutors can use to communicate among each other and share tips and questions.
● Track vs no track. Once schools are assigned to the tutor treatment they will be randomized into two groups. In the first group we will use the baseline evaluation to sort student from worst to best performing and then divide groups accordingly. In the no track arm we will divide groups randomly allowing for heterogeneity in the composition of the groups.
● Affective vs non affective. In schools assigned to affective treatment tutors will be told to use the first 10 to 15 minutes of their sessions with students to ask them about how they are feeling what they are interested in and also talk about themselves their studies and work. We will also provide suggestions to do activities to develop non-cognitive skills such as emotional regulation.
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
We will try to study the differentiated effects of the same treatment if its delivered via text, or phone call or video call. And also if the tutor teaching it is a university student or a normal school student. Additionally, we will look, ex post at the differential success of the intervention depending on the goodness of match between students and tutors for example by gender or region.
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After
We will try to study the differentiated effects of the tutor teaching it is a university student or a normal school student. Additionally, we will look, ex post at the differential success of the intervention depending on the goodness of match between students and tutors for example by gender or region.
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Field
Building on Existing Work
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Before
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After
No
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