Light-touch design enhancements can boost parent engagement in math activities

Yana A. Kuchirko, Lerzan Z. Coskun, Helena Duch, Maria Marti Castaner and Lisa A. Gennetian

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021, vol. 128, issue C

Abstract: Early proficiency in math skills is increasingly being seen as an independent area worthy of early curriculum development and policy investment to reduce socioeconomic disparities in children’s school readiness. However, scalable approaches for parents to support their children’s emerging math skills at home are limited. We examine how behavioral economics (BE)–informed enhancements to an existing play-based school readiness curriculum, Getting Ready for School, can promote parents’ involvement in mathematical activities with their children. The BE-informed enhancements included strategies specifically intended to normalize math and alleviate math anxiety by interweaving fundamental math components such as numbers, patterns, and shapes into daily parent–child interactions. The customized supplemental math content and images––delivered via text messages, along with personalized invitations to Getting Ready for School math workshops––increased family attendance at the math workshops. Math scores were higher among children in the GRS-BE math enhancement group but not statistically distinguishable from the comparison group when controlling for covariates.

Keywords: Parent involvement; Early numeracy; Home experiences; Socioeconomic gaps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740921002097
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:cysrev:v:128:y:2021:i:c:s0190740921002097

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106133

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().