Project Activities
Research question
- What is the impact on student attendance of using text messaging to provide parents with basic information related to attendance? Is it better for the messages to emphasize the benefits of regular attendance or the consequences of missing school?
- For parents who do not respond to the lower-cost, basic messages, which higher-cost, intensified messages work better to improve attendance, one that includes direct outreach from school staff or one that uses automated methods to improve motivation and behavioral skills?
- Do the four combinations of fall and spring messages (i.e., the four adaptive versions of the messaging strategy) have effects on end-of-year attendance and achievement when compared to each other and to business-as-usual?
- How is the messaging strategy implemented and what are its costs?
Structured Abstract
Design
The evaluation used a sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial (SMART) design to measure the effectiveness of four versions of an adaptive messaging strategy across a full school year. In the fall, the study team randomly assigned families of 26,000 K-5 students within 108 elementary schools in 4 large purposively-selected urban districts to receive one of two types of basic messages or their school's usual communications only. In the spring, parents whose children were absent frequently in the fall, despite the basic messages, were re-randomized to receive one of two types of intensified messages. Data for the evaluation came from district records (student attendance and achievement); the text messaging vendor (success of message delivery and other technical information), and a brief school staff log (implementation and cost information).
Key findings
- All four versions of the adaptive text messaging strategy reduced chronic absence. The messaging lowered the expected chronic absence rate by 2 to 7 percentage points, with the larger reduction for students with a prior history of high absence.
- The two approaches to basic messaging were similarly effective at reducing chronic absence, but one approach to intensified messaging was better than the other for certain students. The basic messaging focused on either the benefits of attending school or the consequences of being absent — both approaches were equally effective. But for those that received intensified messaging and had a prior history of high absence, having school staff directly text parents reduced chronic absence rates in the spring more than the other more automated intensified approach.
- The text messaging strategy did not improve achievement. The reading and mathematics achievement of students in Grades 3 through 5 was similar for students whose parents did and did not receive text messages during the year the text messaging was under way.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
A report, titled Can Texting Parents Improve Attendance in Elementary School? A Test of an Adaptive Messaging Strategy, was released in September 2020.
A how to guide, for districts interested in using the text messaging strategy, was released in December 2021.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
