The Impact of Default Options for Parent Participation in an Early Language Intervention
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The Impact of Default Options for Parent Participation in an Early Language Intervention Lisa A. Gennetian
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Lerzan Z. Coskun2 Joy L. Kennedy2 Yana Kuchirko3 J. Lawrence Aber2 ●
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Accepted: 14 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In this study we tested, via a randomized control study design, different enrollment options for a scaled city-wide text-based early learning program among 405 mothers who were receiving newborn home visiting services. We found that when automatically enrolled with a voluntary option to opt out, 88.7% of mothers in the experimental group stayed in the program and continued to receive the text-based content over the course of 26 weeks. In contrast, only 1% of mothers in the control group who heard about the text-based program through conventional recruitment flyers voluntarily enrolled in the program. Opt-out and opt-in patterns did not differ by characteristics typically considered as interfering with program participation: low income status, first-time motherhood status, total number of children, maternal language, flagging for depressive symptoms, and household residential instability. Findings suggest that automatic enrollment might be an effective engagement strategy for text- and similar digitally-based early childhood programs. Keywords Early childhood programming Language development Socioeconomic disparities Parent engagement Default options ●
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Highlights ● We test automatic enrollment for participation in a scaled early learning program. ● The majority of parents in the opt-out condition remained enrolled. ● Few parents enrolled in the opt-in condition in response to informational flyers. ● Opting-out did not vary by key demographic or socio-economic characteristics.
Children from birth up through kindergarten and, by extension, their caregivers, are the target recipients of substantial federal and local public investment. Such early childhood education investments are viewed as springboards to support early learning skills among low socioeconomic status families and, thus reduce socio-economic gaps in educational and behavioral outcomes (Duncan and
* Lisa A. Gennetian [email protected] 1
Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, 212 Rubenstein Hall, 302 Towerview Road, Durham, NC 27708, USA
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New York University, 246 Greene Street, Floor 5E, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Brooklyn College, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA
Magnuson 2011). Popularized estimates show high returns to quality early childhood education programs as measured by children’s subsequent education completion and earnings (Heckman 2006; Garciá et al. 2016). The efforts to promote early learning has recently extended beyond conventional classrooms. Communitybased initiatives and programs hold promise to help children fulfill their potential by increasing caregiver knowledge of strategies that promote early brain and language development (e.g. Galinsky et al. 2017)
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