Using Behavioral Insights to Improve Truancy Notifications

Jessica Lasky-Fink, Carly Robinson, Hedy Chang and Todd Rogers
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Jessica Lasky-Fink: University of California, Berkeley
Carly Robinson: Harvard University
Hedy Chang: Attendance Works
Todd Rogers: Harvard Kennedy School

Working Paper Series from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government

Abstract: Many states mandate districts or schools notify parents when students have missed multiple unexcused days of school. We report a randomized experiment (N = 131,312) evaluating the impact of sending parents truancy notifications modified to target behavioral barriers that can hinder effective parental engagement. Modified truancy notifications that used simplified language, emphasized parental efficacy, and highlighted the negative incremental effects of missing school reduced absences by 0.07 days compared to the standard, legalistic, and punitively-worded notification--an estimated 40% improvement. This work illustrates how behavioral insights and randomized experiments can be used to improve administrative communications in education.

Date: 2019-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-exp and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp19-026

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