A Library in the Palm of Your Hand? A Randomized Field Experiment with Low-Income Children

Silke Anger, Bernhard Christoph (), Agata Galkiewicz, Shushanik Margaryan (), Frauke Peter (), Malte Sandner and Thomas Siedler
Additional contact information
Bernhard Christoph: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg
Agata Galkiewicz: University of Potsdam
Shushanik Margaryan: University of Potsdam
Frauke Peter: DZHW-German Centre for Research on Higher Education and Science Studies

No 17322, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Reading comprehension is critical for academic success, yet children from disadvantaged backgrounds often engage in reading less frequently than their more advantaged peers. This study evaluates the impact of a randomized reading intervention targeting 11{12-year-olds from low-income households in Germany. As part of the intervention, children received e-book readers with access to a large digital library of age-appropriate books. The results show a signicant increase in reading engage- ment, leading to improvements in academic performance. 12 months after the start of the intervention, academic performance improved by 10.3% of a standard devia- tion, with eects persisting at 9.6% after 30 months. Additionally, the intervention positively impacted the socioemotional well-being of the children.

Keywords: reading comprehension; low socioeconomic status; randomized controlled trial; early education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I20 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 77 pages
Date: 2024-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp17322.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17322

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().