Digital tools in the classroom : evidence from a large-scale natural experiment

We study the impact of the French "Digital Plan", a large-scale educational information and communication technologies (ICT) program that provides middle school students with access to mobile digital devices (i.e., either individual or shared access tablets), on students' skills. Employing conditional random assignment and comprehensive administrative and survey data spanning several years, we establish a causal link between ICT access in the classroom and students' academic, digital, and sociocognitive skills. On average, we find large positive treatment effects on academic and digital skills and collaborative capabilities but a negative effect on creativity. However, substantial variation in treatment effectiveness suggests important complementarities and substitutability of these tools given student, school or instructor characteristics. Tracking students into high school, we identify the lasting impact of treatment on performance in national exams and college-relevant choices, especially within STEM disciplines.