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

This randomized control trial by Lindsay Weixler, Jon Valant, Daphna Bassok, Justin B. Doromal, and Alica Gerry examines the effect of a text message intervention on families’ likelihood of completing the verification process required for early childhood enrollment in New Orleans. Parents were randomly assigned to one of three groups: one group received the standard emails from the New Orleans district; another received informative text messages that did not encourage a response; and personal, friendly text messages that did encourage a response. Families in either of the text message groups were more likely to complete verification; families who received the friendly messages were more likely to respond to a text message and ultimately enroll in an early childhood program.