Engaging Parents with Preschools: Evidence from a Field Experiment, Chicago, Illinois, 2018-2019 (ICPSR 38602)
Version Date: May 23, 2023 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Ariel Kalil, University of Chicago
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38602.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
Head Start and other publicly supported preschools are required to spend substantial funds promoting family engagement, which is a key element of improving child skills. Yet, parent engagement with preschools tends to be low. To increase parental attendance at school-sponsored family engagement events, a 17-week randomized controlled trial was conducted. Results showed that the treatment increased the likelihood of attending an event by 28%. Treated parents were also more likely to attend unincentivized events, which is consistent with habit formation.
Citation View help for Citation
Export Citation:
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
- For additional information on this study, please visit the Becker Friedman Institute website.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine whether incentivizing parents to attend school-sponsored family engagement events would increase participation.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The treatment group consisted of 319 parents at sponsored family engagement events at 6 subsidized preschools in Chicago. The monetary incentive was offered as a loss-frame incentive of $200 in a virtual account (redeemable at the end of the experiment), of which $25 was deductible for each missed event. Parents also received weekly text message reminders with event details, as well as a second text message that indicated how much money remained in their account.
Sample View help for Sample
Randomized Control Trial (RCT)
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Parents of students at preschools in Chicago.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Variables in the data pertain to the attendance of participants in the school-sponsored family engagement events. Demographic variables in the data include gender, age in months of participants' children, and whether the participant speaks Spanish.
HideNotes
These data are freely available to data users at ICPSR member institutions. The curation and dissemination of this study are provided by the institutional members of ICPSR. How do I access ICPSR data if I am not at a member institution?