Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Vast differences in learning opportunities and home and neighborhood environments during summer months present a major obstacle to providing equal educational opportunities for all children. Studies document consistent declines or plateaus in student performance on standardized tests from June to September, with vastly differential rates across socio-economic groups (Cooper et. al., 1996; Downey, von Hippel, & Broh, 2004; Alexander et al., 2007; Atteberry & McEachin, 2016). To date, most initiatives aimed at reversing summer learning loss have focused on resource-intensive school- or center-based programs and have overlooked the role played by parents’ in their children’s education.

This study explores the potential of empowering parents to provide more frequent and enriching literacy development opportunities at home as a low-cost and scalable alternative. We conduct a cluster randomized trial of a summer text-messaging pilot program for parents focused on promoting literacy skills among 1^st through 4^th graders. The messages, developed in partnership between school personnel and the research team, were framed as “Pro-tips” about specific literacy and enrichment activities parents and children could engage in over the summer. Besides providing ideas and information on resources, the content of the text-messages was intended to nudge parents by emphasizing the importance of reading and the role of parents in students’ education.

The pilot program took place between July and August of 2015 in two elementary charter schools in Rhode Island that serve a socio-economically diverse student body; 59% of students are African American or Hispanic and 63% are eligible for free/reduced price lunch. We randomly assigned 183 families that opted in to the study to receive the series of 18 summer learning text-messages or to only receive standard school announcements via text-messages. We examine the impact of the summer text-messaging program on parent engagement in school-related activities and on early literacy and reading skills, captured by the STAR and STEP, two standardized reading assessments administered four times throughout the school year.

We find that the summer text-messages had sustained and even increasing positive effects on reading literacy throughout the school year. The effect sizes on tests administered between September and June of the 2015/16 school year ranged from .03 to .10 standard deviations (SD) on STAR and from .10 to .19 SD on STEP. These average effects, however, were almost entirely concentrated among 3^rd and 4^th graders with effect sizes of .21 to .29 SD, more than compensating for summer learning loss. Texts also had influence on parent engagement in school-related activities. Parents in the treatment group were more likely than parents in the control group to attend parent-teacher conferences, but were not more likely to attend a back-to-school social or sign-up for teacher home visits.

 The results of this intervention suggest that text-messaging programs can be a cost-effective alternative to encourage parent engagement and reduce summer learning loss, particularly among students that have already acquired basic reading skills. Parents’ responses to a follow-up survey provide further evidence to inform efforts to refine and scale programs designed to empower parents to reverse summer learning loss.