Working Paper: NBER ID: w31407
Authors: Francesco Agostinelli; Ciro Avitabile; Matteo Bobba
Abstract: This paper provides novel insights into the science of scaling by examining an educational mentoring program in Mexico. The analysis encompasses two independent field experiments, and seizes a unique opportunity to learn from the government's implementation of the same intervention. While the program originally implemented at scale demonstrates limited effectiveness, the introduction of a new modality with enhanced mentor training significantly improves children's outcomes. Mentor-parent interactions are found to stimulate parental engagement at the community-school level, which emerges as a critical factor for the scalability of the program. Our findings offer compelling evidence on the socially determined drivers of education interventions at scale.
Keywords: human capital; education; mentoring; parental engagement; scaling interventions
JEL Codes: C90; C93; D02; I3; J1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Increase in parental engagement (I24) | Reduction in probability of school closures (I21) |
| New modality with enhanced mentor training (C90) | Improvement in children's educational outcomes (I21) |
| New modality with enhanced mentor training (C90) | Increase in children's reading scores (I21) |
| New modality with enhanced mentor training (C90) | Increase in children's math scores (I24) |
| New modality with enhanced mentor training (C90) | Increase in children's socioemotional scores (I24) |
| New modality with enhanced mentor training (C90) | Increase in probability of children enrolling in seventh grade (I21) |
| Mentor training (M53) | Improvement in parental attitudes and behaviors towards children's education (I24) |