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The causal effect of a teacher training programme on child’s literacy: a randomised field experiment in the Amazon Forest

Last registered on July 08, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The causal impact of management on child’s literacy: a randomised field experiment in Brazil
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009311
Initial registration date
July 08, 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
July 08, 2022, 9:13 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Trinity College - University of Cambridge

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Trinity College, University of Cambridge
PI Affiliation
Court of Accountability of Rondônia (TCE-RO)
PI Affiliation
Court of Accountability of Rondônia (TCE-RO)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-06-30
End date
2025-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The study investigates a causal relationship between the Alphabetisation Policy Improvement Program - a specific set of results-oriented school management practices, such as teachers’ continued training - and student literacy in the initial grades of state-run schools in Rondônia state, northern Brazil. The program is led by the Court of Accountability of Rondônia (TCE-RO) and twenty-two Municipal Secretariat of Education from twenty-two municipalities of the Rondônia state. One hundred and fifty schools were selected from these 22 municipalities to participate in the program. Schools within each city were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. The implementation should last two years. At the end of the program, a cross-section analysis will be conducted to assess possible systematic differences – due to the program implementation - between pupils’ literacy in the control and treatment groups.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cavalcanti, Tiago et al. 2022. "The causal impact of management on child’s literacy: a randomised field experiment in Brazil." AEA RCT Registry. July 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9311-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Partner

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The interventions will be conducted in one hundred fifty state-run schools of twenty-two municipalities in Rondônia. The intervention consists of two parts being implemented simultaneously. The first is providing a continuous training program to teachers (ongoing professional development) for reading and writing and orality teaching for children in the initial grades. Teachers from the treatment group of schools will be trained by literacy specialists every two months. The second part is providing support by expert consultants for a set of outcomes-based school management practices that should be implemented in the schools being treated. The complete intervention covers a comprehensive set of techniques related to improving pupils’ learning.
Intervention Start Date
2023-01-02
Intervention End Date
2025-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Students' literacy
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The study's main objective is to assess whether the program's interventions will improve the performance of 2nd and 3rd-year students in the Portuguese language (reading, writing, text production and orality). Student performance will be calculated utilising a standardised test composed of multiple items aligned with the skills foreseen in the Common National Curriculum Base

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We have selected the population of schools in 22 municipalities of Rondônia state to be our sample. We did the randomisation within each city creating the treatment and control group with seventy-five schools each. After two years of the beginning of the Alfebatization Policy Improvement Program, a literacy assessment (a standardised test to analyse orality, writing and reading skills) will be conducted to allow us to assess the impact of the implemented measures in the schools.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomisation was done in office by a computer (Stata)
Randomization Unit
Schools within each city were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
150 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
11,500 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
75 schools control and 75 schools treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Literacy Policy Improvement Program (in Portuguese)
Document Type
proposal
Document Description
The purpose of this document is to present the project proposal "Evaluation of
Impact of the Literacy Policy Improvement Program at the Right Age" and
obtain approval from the Superior Board of Judges of the Court of Accountability of Rondônia (TCE-RO).
This document states:
a) Presentation of the Literacy Policy Improvement Program
at the Right Age - PAIC/RO;
b) Work Plan;
c) Annex I - Preliminary information of the study; and
d) Annex II - Draft of the Technical-Scientific Cooperation Agreement.
File
Literacy Policy Improvement Program (in Portuguese)

MD5: e1aace35ce7e9088287194a437920d58

SHA1: 5d802093f16c85295f866d383f12de3201b25dfd

Uploaded At: June 21, 2022

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number