IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/20659.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

One Step at a Time: The Effects of an Early Literacy Text Messaging Program for Parents of Preschoolers

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin N. York
  • Susanna Loeb

Abstract

Large systematic differences in young children’s home learning experiences have long-term economic consequences. Many parenting programs place significant demands on parents’ time and inundate parents with information. This study evaluates the effects of READY4K!, an eight-month-long text-messaging intervention for parents of preschoolers that targets the behavioral barriers to engaged parenting. We find that READY4K! increased parental involvement at home and school by 0.15 to 0.29 standard deviations, leading to child gains in early literacy of about 0.11 standard deviations. The results point to the salience of behavioral barriers to parenting and the potential for low-cost interventions to reduce these barriers.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin N. York & Susanna Loeb, 2014. "One Step at a Time: The Effects of an Early Literacy Text Messaging Program for Parents of Preschoolers," NBER Working Papers 20659, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20659
    Note: CH EH ED
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20659.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dean Karlan & Sendhil Mullainathan & Margaret McConnell & Jonathan Zinman, 2010. "Getting to theTop of Mind: How Reminders Increase Saving," Working Papers id:2587, eSocialSciences.
    2. Castleman, Benjamin L. & Page, Lindsay C., 2015. "Summer nudging: Can personalized text messages and peer mentor outreach increase college going among low-income high school graduates?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 144-160.
    3. Samuelson, William & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1988. "Status Quo Bias in Decision Making," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 7-59, March.
    4. Christopher Avery & Thomas J. Kane, 2004. "Student Perceptions of College Opportunities. The Boston COACH Program," NBER Chapters, in: College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It, pages 355-394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Justine S. Hastings & Jeffrey M. Weinstein, 2008. "Information, School Choice, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Two Experiments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1373-1414.
    6. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long & Philip Oreopoulos & Lisa Sanbonmatsu, 2012. "The Role of Application Assistance and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block Fafsa Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1205-1242.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Damgaard, Mette Trier & Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 2018. "Nudging in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 313-342.
    2. Eduard Marinov, 2017. "The 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 117-159.
    3. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2017. "Richard H. Thaler: Integrating Economics with Psychology," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2017-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    4. Ferman, Bruno & Lima, Lycia & Riva, Flávio, 2021. "Artificial Intelligence, Teacher Tasks and Individualized Pedagogy," SocArXiv qw249, Center for Open Science.
    5. Benjamin L. Castleman & Francis X. Murphy & Richard W. Patterson & William L. Skimmyhorn, 2021. "Nudges Don't Work When the Benefits Are Ambiguous: Evidence from a High‐Stakes Education Program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1230-1248, September.
    6. Susan E. Mayer & Ariel Kalil & Philip Oreopoulos & Sebastian Gallegos, 2015. "Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Parental Engagement: The Parents and Children Together (PACT) Intervention," NBER Working Papers 21602, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Chris Ryan, 2016. "Parental Investments and Child Development: Counting Games and Early Numeracy," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2016n34, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    8. Roland Fryer & Steven Levitt & John List, 2015. "Parental Incentives and Early Childhood Achievement: A Field Experiment in Chicago Heights," Framed Field Experiments 00587, The Field Experiments Website.
    9. Lindsay C. Page & Judith Scott-Clayton, 2015. "Improving College Access in the United States: Barriers and Policy Responses," NBER Working Papers 21781, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Matthew A. Kraft & Manuel Monti-Nussbaum, 2017. "Can Schools Enable Parents to Prevent Summer Learning Loss? A Text-Messaging Field Experiment to Promote Literacy Skills," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 674(1), pages 85-112, November.
    11. Peter Leopold S. Bergman & Eric W. Chan, 2017. "Leveraging Technology to Engage Parents at Scale: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," CESifo Working Paper Series 6493, CESifo.
    12. Page, Lindsay C. & Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2016. "Improving college access in the United States: Barriers and policy responses," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 4-22.
    13. Kuchirko, Yana A. & Coskun, Lerzan Z. & Duch, Helena & Castaner, Maria Marti & Gennetian, Lisa A., 2021. "Light-touch design enhancements can boost parent engagement in math activities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Cass Sunstein, 2015. "Nudges Do Not Undermine Human Agency," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 207-210, September.
    15. Bergman, Peter & Denning, Jeffrey T. & Manoli, Dayanand, 2017. "Broken Tax Breaks? Evidence from a Tax Credit Information Experiment with 1,000,000 Students," IZA Discussion Papers 10997, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Fryer, Roland G., 2016. "Information, non-financial incentives, and student achievement: Evidence from a text messaging experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 109-121.
    17. Kelli Bird & Benjamin L. Castleman, 2016. "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Investigating Rates and Patterns of Financial Aid Renewal Among College Freshmen," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(4), pages 395-422, June.
    18. Ferman, Bruno & Lima, Lycia & Riva, Flavio, 2020. "Experimental Evidence on Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom," MPRA Paper 103934, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kalena E. Cortes & Hans Fricke & Susanna Loeb & David S. Song, 2018. "Too little or too much? Actionable Advice in an Early-Childhood Text Messaging Experiment," NBER Working Papers 24827, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lindsay C. Page & Judith Scott-Clayton, 2015. "Improving College Access in the United States: Barriers and Policy Responses," NBER Working Papers 21781, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Cortes, Kalena E. & Fricke, Hans & Loeb, Susanna & Song, David S. & York, Ben, 2019. "When Behavioral Barriers Are Too High or Low: How Timing Matters for Parenting Interventions," IZA Discussion Papers 12416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Page, Lindsay C. & Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2016. "Improving college access in the United States: Barriers and policy responses," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 4-22.
    5. Damgaard, Mette Trier & Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 2018. "Nudging in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 313-342.
    6. Kelli Bird & Benjamin L. Castleman, 2016. "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Investigating Rates and Patterns of Financial Aid Renewal Among College Freshmen," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(4), pages 395-422, June.
    7. Castleman, Benjamin L. & Owen, Laura & Page, Lindsay C., 2016. "Reprint of “Stay late or start early? Experimental evidence on the benefits of college matriculation support from high schools versus colleges”," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 113-124.
    8. Bergman, Peter & Denning, Jeffrey T. & Manoli, Dayanand, 2017. "Broken Tax Breaks? Evidence from a Tax Credit Information Experiment with 1,000,000 Students," IZA Discussion Papers 10997, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Bleemer, Zachary & Zafar, Basit, 2018. "Intended college attendance: Evidence from an experiment on college returns and costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 184-211.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/527ht1a96e837pq2dubgo2953q is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Castleman, Benjamin L. & Page, Lindsay C., 2015. "Summer nudging: Can personalized text messages and peer mentor outreach increase college going among low-income high school graduates?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 144-160.
    12. Avery, Christopher & Castleman, Benjamin L. & Hurwitz, Michael & Long, Bridget Terry & Page, Lindsay C., 2021. "Digital messaging to improve college enrollment and success," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. French, Robert & Oreopoulos, Philip, 2017. "Behavioral barriers transitioning to college," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 48-63.
    14. Sean P. Corcoran & Jennifer L. Jennings & Sarah R. Cohodes & Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, 2018. "Leveling the Playing Field for High School Choice: Results from a Field Experiment of Informational Interventions," NBER Working Papers 24471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Adam M. Lavecchia & Heidi Liu & Philip Oreopoulos, 2014. "Behavioral Economics of Education: Progress and Possibilities," NBER Working Papers 20609, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Scott Carrell & Bruce Sacerdote, 2017. "Why Do College-Going Interventions Work?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 124-151, July.
    17. de Roux, Nicolás & Riehl, Evan, 2022. "Disrupted academic careers: The returns to time off after high school," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    18. Justine Hastings & Christopher A. Neilson & Seth D. Zimmerman, 2015. "The Effects of Earnings Disclosure on College Enrollment Decisions," Working Papers 2015-1, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    19. Hastings, Justine S. & Neilson, Christopher A. & Ramirez, Anely & Zimmerman, Seth D., 2016. "(Un)informed college and major choice: Evidence from linked survey and administrative data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 136-151.
    20. Taylor K. Odle & Jennifer A. Delaney, 2022. "You are Admitted! Early Evidence on Enrollment from Idaho’s Direct Admissions System," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(6), pages 899-932, September.
    21. Benjamin L. Castleman & Lindsay C. Page, 2016. "Freshman Year Financial Aid Nudges: An Experiment to Increase FAFSA Renewal and College Persistence," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 389-415.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20659. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.