Digital tutoring program for adolescents in Ukraine

Last registered on April 28, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Digital tutoring program for adolescents in Ukraine
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009328
Initial registration date
April 28, 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
April 28, 2022, 6:21 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Ukraine
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Lelys Dinarte
Affiliation
The World Bank
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Renata Lemos
PI Affiliation
The World Bank
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Harry Patrinos
PI Affiliation
The World Bank
Contact Investigator
PI Name
James Gresham
PI Affiliation
The World Bank
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-04-29
End date
2022-08-15
Keywords
Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
School closures and learning disruptions carry high social and economic costs. Evidence suggests that events, such as terrorist attacks and wars, natural disasters, and pandemics, can trigger or deepen the presence of stressors within homes and ultimately impact children’s development, learning, and protection. In the current context of a security emergency in Ukraine in which children have been forced to displace, tech-enabled tutoring has enormous potential for facilitating learning recovery and supporting the educational re-engagement of millions of students in a fragile context. Thus, in this project we conduct an impact evaluation on the Teach for Ukraine (TFU) tutoring program. It consists of a 2-week intervention that provides learning and socio-emotional support to Ukrainian students of 5-11 grades who are deprived of access to local educational services due to the war. To guarantee scalability and since it will be a complementary program to the normal school schedule once schools reopen, the program is scheduled to offer 3 sessions (1.5 hours each) per week. The learning component includes subject-specific academic content in accordance with Ukrainian educational programs. The socio-emotional component includes activities oriented to support students' social and emotional well-being. The total scheduled time for psychosocial support activities is 30 mins per session. In this project, we will evaluate the impact of the TFU tutoring program on the learning and socioemotional outcomes of adolescents.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dinarte, Lelys et al. 2022. "Digital tutoring program for adolescents in Ukraine." AEA RCT Registry. April 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9328-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name
Teach for Ukraine
Type
ngo
URL
https://teachforall.org/partners/teach-ukraine

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The TFU tutoring program is a 2-week intervention that consists of providing learning and socio-emotional support to Ukrainian students of 5-11 grades who are deprived of access to educational services in Ukraine due to the war. To guarantee scalability and since it will be a complementary program to the normal school schedule once schools reopen, the program is scheduled to offer 3 sessions (1.5 hours each) per week. The learning component includes subject-specific academic content in accordance with Ukrainian educational programs. The socio-emotional component includes activities oriented to support students’ social and emotional well-being. The total scheduled time for psychosocial support activities is 30 mins per session.
Intervention Start Date
2022-05-09
Intervention End Date
2022-06-24

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Students:
i. Achievement
ii. Socioemotional skills and expectations
iii. Mental health

Spillovers on other siblings-Using parents' reports
i. Achievement
ii. Socioemotional skills and expectations
iii. Mental health


Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Students:
i. Time use
ii. Attendance and attitudes towards tutoring

Tutors
i. Socioemotional skills and expectations
ii. Mental health

Parents
i. Parental wellbeing (depression, anxiety, stress)
ii. Attitudes towards tutoring
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will conduct a two-stage random assignment of participants.
Stage 1. All enrolled students will be randomly assigned to treatment or control groups.
Stage 2. Within each group, students will be randomly allocated into groups of 5 students. Each group will be randomly assigned a tutor.

Students in the treatment group will participate in the tutoring program. They will attend 3 virtual sessions per week, led by the tutor through Telegram. As explained in the intervention description, 6 hours per week will be devoted to learning-based tutoring and 3 hours will be used for socioemotional support. Tutors will be trained in the implementation approach.

Moreover, students assigned to the control group will only receive check-ins through text messages (Telegram). A tutor will send text messages following up on how they are doing and the groups will provide the opportunity to interact with other students. However, they will not receive any specific learning-based or socioemotional support tutoring.
Experimental Design Details
We will conduct a two-stage random assignment of participants.
Stage 1. All enrolled students will be randomly assigned to treatment or control groups.
Stage 2. Within each group, students will be randomly allocated into groups of 5 students. Each group will be randomly assigned a tutor.

Students in the treatment group will participate in the tutoring program. They will attend 3 virtual sessions per week, led by the tutor through Telegram. As explained in the intervention description, 6 hours per week will be devoted to learning-based tutoring and 3 hours will be used for socioemotional support. Tutors will be trained in the implementation approach.

Moreover, students assigned to the control group will only receive check-ins through text messages (Telegram). A tutor will send text messages following up on how they are doing and the groups will provide the opportunity to interact with other students. However, they will not receive any specific learning-based or socioemotional support tutoring.
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done using a self-done randomization procedure.
Randomization Unit
Household level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
600 households
Sample size: planned number of observations
600 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 households in intervention
300 households in control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
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