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Helping Parents Navigate the Early Childhood Enrollment Process: Experimental Evidence from New Orleans

Lindsay Weixler,
Jon Valant,
Daphna Bassok,
Justin B. Doromal,
Alica Gerry

The early childhood enrollment process involves searching for programs, applying, verifying eligibility(for publicly funded seats), and enrolling. Many families do not complete the process. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess strategies for communicating with families as they verify eligibility. Working with administrators in New Orleans, we randomly assigned families to receive either: (1) the district’s usual, modest communications, (2) the usual communications plus weekly text-message reminders formal in tone, or (3) the usual communications plus weekly text-messages reminders friendly and personal in tone. Text-message reminders increased verification rates by seven percentage points (regardless of tone), and personalized messages increased enrollment rates for some groups. The exchanges between parents and administrators reveal the key obstacles that parents confronted.

Keywords
early childhood education, behavioral intervention
Education level
Early childhood
Topics
School Choice
Tags
Early childhood education,
Parenting
Download 06/2019
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/y3qx-3m09
EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:
Weixler, Lindsay, Jon Valant, Daphna Bassok, Justin B. Doromal, and Alica Gerry. (). Helping Parents Navigate the Early Childhood Enrollment Process: Experimental Evidence from New Orleans. (EdWorkingPaper: -88). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/y3qx-3m09

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