Supporting early childhood development remotely: Experimental evidence from SMS messages

Using a randomized field experiment in Costa Rica, we estimate the effect of providing parents of preschool students with regular text messages offering ways to engage their children in educational activities at home. After 15 weeks of intervention, the cognitive skills of children whose families were assigned to the program were 0.11-0.12 standard deviations higher than the control group. We find suggestive evidence that the effect was driven by an increase in parents' involvement as they conducted the activities proposed in the text message campaign.

Automated summary

By providing regular text messages to parents of preschool students, informing them ways to engage their children in educational activities at home, it was found that children's cognitive skills increased by 0.11-0.12 standard deviations compared to the control group. There is suggestive evidence that this effect was driven by increased parental involvement in the proposed activities.