Greg Brooks|Maxine Burton|Pam Cole|Jeremy N. V. Miles|Carole Torgerson|David Torgerson
Randomised controlled trial of incentives to improve attendance at adult literacy classes
University of Sheffield|University of Sheffield|University of Sheffield|RAND Corporation|University of York|University of York
abstract background incentives proposed method improve attendance adult literacy classes uk several areas piloted use incentives promote attendance adult literacy classes date rigorous evaluation policy undertaken paper describes far aware ukbased randomised controlled trial evaluate use financial incentives order promote attendance classes adult learners methods used clusterrandomised design twentynine adult literacy classes randomised two groups using minimisation intervention group learners received 5 us10 class attended main outcome class attendance secondary outcome literacy scores results allocation one class found ineligible study 28 remaining classes statistically significant reduction 15 sessions 95 confidence interval ci 028 279 p 0019 attended intervention group compared control adjusting cluster size baseline scores difference reading scores intervention control group conditioned baseline scores 238 controls scoring higher intervention group difference statistically significant 95 ci 740 257 p 033 conclusion payments attend adult literacy classes adverse effect attendance trial needs urgent replication ideally larger incentive approach widely used policy makers