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Too Little or Too Much? Actionable Advice in an Early-Childhood Text Messaging Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Kalena E. Cortes

    (The Bush School of Government and Public Service Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843)

  • Hans Fricke

    (Graduate School of Education Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305)

  • Susanna Loeb

    (Annenberg Institute for School Reform Brown University Providence, RI 02912)

  • David S. Song

    (Graduate School of Education Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305)

  • Benjamin N. York

    (ParentPowered Technologies Belmont, CA 94002)

Abstract

Text-message-based parenting programs have proven successful in improving parent engagement and preschoolers’ literacy development. This study seeks to identify mechanisms of the overall effect of such programs. It investigates whether actionable advice alone drives previous studies’ results and whether additional texts of actionable advice improve program effectiveness. The findings provide evidence that text messaging programs can supply too little or too much information. A single text per week is not as effective at improving parenting practices as a set of three texts that also include information and encouragement, but a set of five texts with additional actionable advice is also not as effective as the three-text approach. The results on children's literacy development depend on the child's pre-intervention literacy skills. For children in the lowest quarter of the pretreatment literacy assessments, providing one example of an activity improves literacy scores by 0.19 standard deviations less than providing three texts. Literacy scores of children in higher quarters are marginally higher with only one tip per week than with three tips per week. We find no positive effects of increasing to five texts per week.

Suggested Citation

  • Kalena E. Cortes & Hans Fricke & Susanna Loeb & David S. Song & Benjamin N. York, 2021. "Too Little or Too Much? Actionable Advice in an Early-Childhood Text Messaging Experiment," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 16(2), pages 209-232, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:16:y:2021:i:2:p:209-232
    DOI: 10.1162/edfp_a_00304
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    Cited by:

    1. Ajzenman, Nicolas & Luna, Laura Becerra & Hernández-Agramonte, Juan Manuel & Lopez Boo, Florencia & Perez Alfaro, Marcelo & Vásquez-Echeverría, Alejandro & Mateo Diaz, Mercedes, 2022. "A behavioral intervention to increase preschool attendance in Uruguay," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Amaral, Sofia & Dinarte-Diaz, Lelys & Dominguez, Patricio & Perez-Vincent, Santiago M., 2024. "Helping families help themselves: The (Un)intended impacts of a digital parenting program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    3. Cortes, Kalena E. & Fricke, Hans & Loeb, Susanna & Song, David S. & York, Benjamin N., 2023. "When behavioral barriers are too high or low – How timing matters for text-based parenting interventions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. Noam Angrist & Peter Bergman & Moitshepi Matsheng, 2022. "Experimental evidence on learning using low-tech when school is out," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(7), pages 941-950, July.
    5. Mateo-Berganza Díaz, María Mercedes & Becerra, Laura & Hernández Agramonte, Juan Manuel & Lopez Boo, Florencia & Pérez Alfaro, Marcelo & Vasquez Echeverria, Alejandro, 2020. "Nudging Parents to Increase Preschool Attendance in Uruguay," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 10893, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. Doss, Christopher & Fricke, Hans & Loeb, Susanna & Doromal, Justin B., 2022. "Engaging girls in math: The unequal effects of text messaging to help parents support early math development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Hernández-Agramonte, Juan Manuel & Namen, Olga & Näslund-Hadley, Emma & Biehl, Maria Loreto, 2024. "Supporting early childhood development remotely: Experimental evidence from SMS messages," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    8. Rebecca Bailey & Natasha Raisch & Sonya Temko & Britt Titus & Jonah Bautista & Tahirat Omolara Eniola & Stephanie M. Jones, 2021. "Innovations in Social and Emotional Learning Research and Practice: Building from Evidence and Applying Behavioral Insights to the Design of a Social and Emotional Learning Intervention in Northeast N," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Jabbari, Jason & Roll, Stephen & Bufe, Sam & McKay, Jessica, 2022. "“Take my word for it”: Group Texts and Testimonials Enhance State and Federal Student Aid Applications," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

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