38%

Reduction in Course Failures

17%

Increase in Class Attendance

.13

Standard Deviation Increase in Class Exam Scores

EdNudge Research Findings

Parents Need Better Data

We found that parents regularly understate their child’s absences and missed assignments (Bergman, 2015; Bergman and Chan, 2017).  

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Nationally, only 43% of parents in lower-performing schools are satisfied with the communication they receive from their child’s school about their academic progress (Bridgeland et al., 2008). 

Regular Text Alerts Resulted in Improved Outcomes

We randomized the delivery of text alerts to families in large school districts. The intervention reduced course failures by 38%, increased class attendance by 17%, and increased in-class exam scores by 0.13 standard deviations. These effects were larger for students with below-average GPAs at baseline (Bergman and Chan, 2017). 

Proven Impacts at a Low Cost

Text messages to parents with actionable data about attendance or missing assignments cost under $5 per student. The impacts on performance were on par with the effects of scholarships that cost thousands of dollars!