TOP: Tutoring Online Project During the Coronavirus Emergency in Italy

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the governments of several countries ordered the closure of all schools and universities. Educators were forced to rapidly adapt to distance learning. At home, students from underprivileged backgrounds are less likely to have proper support, which might increase existing learning gaps by socioeconomic characteristics. This project builds on a pilot project implemented by the research team in April-June 2020, in the middle of the COVID crisis. It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention implemented in Italy that provides individual online tutoring to students from underprivileged backgrounds to address inequalities in education exacerbated during school closure. Tutors are randomly assigned to middle school students, from a list of potential beneficiaries compiled by school principals of all Italian middle schools. Impacts will be estimated on psychological, behavioral and academic outcomes.