The impact of integrating ICT with teaching: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in rural schools in China

• We conducted a randomized experiment to test how to use ICT to improve learning.
• Student test scores improved when ICT is integrated into the teaching programme.
• Both better and poorer performing students benefited when ICT is integrated.
• No impact is found when ICT is not integrated into the teaching programme.

Recent attention has been placed on whether integrating Information Communication Technology (hereafter, ICT) into education can effectively improve learning outcomes. However, the empirical evidence of the impact of programmes that adopt ICT in schooling is mixed. Theory suggests it may be due to differences in whether or not the ICT programmes are integrated into a teaching programme of a class. Unfortunately, few empirical studies compare the relative effectiveness of programmes that integrate ICT into teaching with the ones that do not. In order to understand the most effective way to design new programmes that attempt to utilize ICT to improve English learning, we conducted a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) with some schools receiving ICT that was integrated into the teaching programme of the class; with some schools that received ICT without having it integrated into the teaching programme; and with other schools being used as controls. The RCT involved 6304 fifth grade students studying English in 127 rural schools in rural China. Our results indicate that when the programme is integrated into the teaching programme of a class it is effective in improving student test scores relative to the control schools. No programme impact, however, is found when the ICT programme is not integrated into the teaching program. We also find that when ICT programmes are integrated into teaching, the programmes work similarly for students that have either high or low initial (or baseline) levels of English competency. When ICT programmes are not integrated with teaching, they only raise the educational performance of English students who were performing better during the baseline.