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Getting Parents Involved: A Field Experiment in Deprived Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Maurin, Eric
  • Gurgand, Marc
  • Guyon, Nina
  • Avvisati, Francesco

Abstract

This paper presents a randomized field experiment conducted in a set of French middle schools located in a deprived educational district near Paris. Parents in test groups were invited to participate in a simple program of training sessions on how to get better involved in their children?s education. At the end of the school-year, we find that treated families effectively increased their school- and home-based involvement activities. Children of families who were directly targeted by the program developed more positive behavior and attitudes in school, and had less literacy problems. Importantly, for all behavioral outcomes we find large spillover effects of the program on classmates of treated families. This experiment proves that schools are able to increase parents' awareness and that parental inputs have strong effects on pupil behavior. Our results on spillovers demonstrate that similar initiatives can be effective even in case of low parental take-up of the program.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurin, Eric & Gurgand, Marc & Guyon, Nina & Avvisati, Francesco, 2010. "Getting Parents Involved: A Field Experiment in Deprived Schools," CEPR Discussion Papers 8020, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8020
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child support; Classroom peer-effects; Cluster randomized trial; Parental involvement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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