Tutoring Online Program (TOP) in the Dominican Republic

Last registered on March 31, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Tutoring Online Program (TOP) in the Dominican Republic
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009174
Initial registration date
March 31, 2022

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 31, 2022, 3:31 PM EDT

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

Last updated
March 31, 2022, 3:47 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Dominican Republic
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Primary Investigator

Name
Astrid Pineda
Affiliation
Teachers College, Columbia University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Eliana La Ferrara
PI Affiliation
Bocconi University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Michela Carlana
PI Affiliation
Harvard Kennedy School
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-01-20
End date
2023-05-01
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
online tutoring
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public schools in the Dominican Republic (DR) were closed for over 12 months. School closures are expected to lead to learning losses and increased dropout rates, especially among the most vulnerable. In the absence of compensatory actions, the COVID-19 pandemic poses the risk of exacerbating low learning levels and increasing current inequalities. The Tutoring Online Project (TOP) aims to mitigate these losses by offering personalized tutoring to public school students in the DR. This intervention will be implemented by J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean (J-PAL LAC) with support of the Ministry of Education in public secondary schools in the country, leveraging partnerships with local universities. TOP-DR will recruit 600 volunteer university and randomly match them with 800 students from disadvantaged backgrounds in public schools. The project has been already implemented and evaluated in Italy in 2020-2021 and in the DR in the summer of 2021. In this phase we plan to build evidence on how to effectively deliver tutor at-scale, exploring alternative modes of delivery (paired and individual tutoring) and tutor profiles (high achieving high school students and university students).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Carlana, Michela, Eliana La Ferrara and Astrid Pineda. 2022. "Tutoring Online Program (TOP) in the Dominican Republic." AEA RCT Registry. March 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9174-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-03-21
Intervention End Date
2022-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The outcomes will include: (1) data collected from a questionnaire to students, including test scores in math and language and non-cognitive skills, and (2) administrative outcomes on students' standardized test scores and enrollment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Due to the limited availability of tutors, students will be randomly assigned to online tutors.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
We plan to have 1600 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
800 students per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard University
IRB Approval Date
2021-04-30
IRB Approval Number
IRB21-0560
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