Detecting Intervention Effects across Context: An Examination of the Power of Experimental Studies Launched by the Institute of Education Sciences

Jessaca Spybrook

Since 2002 the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has funded more than 55 experiments to evaluate educational interventions in an effort to generate scientific evidence of program effectiveness on which to base education policy and practice. These studies are typically designed with the goal of having adequate statistical power to detect the average treatment effect. However, the average treatment effect is of limited utility to a practitioner in a particular site if the treatment effects vary substantially from site to site. This project will examine the power of studies to detect differences in intervention effects across contexts or sub-populations. Using data from the IES group randomized trials funded between 2002 and 2006, I will assess the statistical power of the studies to detect 1) variability in treatment effects across sites, typically districts or schools, 2) non-zero site-specific treatment effects, and 3) moderator effects at the setting or student-levels.

About Jessaca Spybrook

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