More than Just a Nudge: Supporting Kindergarten Parents with Differentiated and Personalized Text-Messages

Abstract

At least one co-author has disclosed a financial relationship of potential relevance for this research. Further information is available online at http://www.nber.org/papers/w24450.ack NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Public acceptability of nudges targeting parents and children to improve children's health outcomes: results from an online experiment

“…Another study uses a brief social norms intervention to target parents, leading to an increase in booster seat usage (Jeffrey et al, 2016). In the field of education, one study finds that reminders to parents in the form of text messages improve parent-child academic interactions and children's reading abilities (Doss et al, 2018).…”

Reaching unconnected caregivers: Using a text-message education program to better understand how to support informal caregivers roles in child development

“…Informal caregivers received three texts each week at 9:00 a.m. The frequency of the texts was based on a similar program in which parents received three texts each week (Doss et al, 2018; York et al, 2018). The time was selected to provide the information and activities early in the day so that the caregivers could incorporate it into their daily routines.…”

“…The parenting intervention helped parents overcome the behavioral barriers to parenting by providing small bits of information over the school year. The changes led to significant increases in parents’ at-home learning activities and children’s early literacy and math development (Doss et al, 2018; York et al, 2018).…”

Using Texting to Help Families Build Their Children’s Vocabulary at Home

“…Perhaps most encouraging are findings from randomized trials that texting can increase parents' home involvement with their young children (Doss, Fahle, Loeb, & York, 2019;Hurwitz, Lauricella, Hanson, Raden, & Wartella, 2015;York et al, 2018). Hurwitz et al (2015) found that text messages sent to preschool parents over six weeks increased parents' participation in home learning activities, with impacts greater for parents of boys and fathers.…”

“…Another texting-based intervention, Ready4K (York et al, 2018), sent three literacy-focused texts per week for eight months to parents of preschoolers. The program increased the frequency of parent involvement in home literacy activities, parent involvement at school, and student literacy skills, with some effects being sustained through kindergarten (Doss et al, 2019).…”