PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - York, Benjamin N.
AU  - Loeb, Susanna
AU  - Doss, Christopher
TI  - One Step at a Time
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.54.3.0517-8756R
DP  - 2019 Jul 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 537--566
VI  - 54
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/54/3/537.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/54/3/537.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2019 Jul 01; 54
AB  - Large systematic differences in young children’s home learning experiences have long-term economic consequences. Many parenting programs place significant demands on parents’ time and inundate parents with information. This study evaluates the effects of READY4K!, an eight-month-long text-messaging intervention for parents of preschoolers that targets the behavioral barriers to engaged parenting. We find that READY4K! increased parental involvement at home and school by 0.15 to 0.29 standard deviations, leading to child gains in early literacy of about 0.11 standard deviations. The results point to the salience of behavioral barriers to parenting and the potential for low-cost interventions to reduce these barriers.