Sunday, March 12, 2017

Parent Alert! Your Child Just Skipped Class - Anya Kamanetz and Cory Turner, NPR

Peter Bergman and Eric W. Chan of Teachers College, Columbia University: "In a field experiment across 22 middle and high schools, we [sent] automated text-message alerts to parents about their child's missed assignments, grades and class absences. The intervention reduces course failures by 39% and increases class attendance by 17%." That's from a draft paper they've just released. They say the intervention was especially helpful for students who were struggling academically. The students' GPAs improved by a quarter of a point on a four-point scale. And students were more likely to stay in school. Bergman told NPR Ed that he has been researching the power of texting parents for about six years. In a previous study in Los Angeles, he tapped out the texts by hand. http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/02/517757199/parent-alert-your-child-just-skipped-class