Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

An increasing number of public preschools, including Head Start, provide parenting support programs. Parent engagement in effective parenting support programs can have lasting positive effects on child development and academic skills. Paradoxically, for many parents, the stresses of parenting can make engagement in parenting programs challenging. These challenges can be especially difficult for low-income parents who face economic constraints and pressures that redirect their attention and resources away from investments in children. Research from the interdisciplinary field of behavioral economics (BE) provides insights about the context of choices and decision-making and offers ideas and approaches to support parents’ efforts to engage.

 This mixed-methods study measures the effect of integrating BE-informed strategies into existing outreach practices using data from two sources. First, we use program administrative data to measure the effect of this BE intervention on parent attendance of a parenting support program in NYC public preschools. Second, we use parent interviews and surveys to assesses parents’ opinions of outreach and to better understand non-cognitive barriers to participation.

We partner with a parenting support program that operates in over 20 NYC preschools and serves over 800 families. The program is dispersed throughout the city and serves a culturally-diverse population. We infuse a bundle of messages tailored to provide social proof, positive parent affirmation, and tangible benefits into existing program outreach. These messages address cognitive biases that may deter parents from following through on their interest and intention to participate in the program. Preschools are assigned to treatment or control, and within treatment schools, parents are randomized to receive different dosages of BE-informed outreach delivered via digital and/or print platforms.

Our study builds knowledge on the effects of BE-infused outreach on parent program attendance in three specific ways. First, our use of different platforms and dosages of BE-informed outreach allows us to compare the relative effect of each strategy (i.e., print vs. digital outreach; individualized messages vs. group messages; weekly outreach vs. more frequent outreach) on parent session attendance. Second, through interviews with parents, we assess their opinions of the various forms of outreach. Finally, through parent surveys, we assess the non-cognitive barriers to parents’ participation in parenting support programs. With the expansion of parenting support programs this study provides information that supports programs' efforts to reach out to parents, and supports parents‘ efforts to engage.