ERIC Number: EJ1349892
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1934-5747
EISSN: EISSN-1934-5739
Your Child Missed Learning the Alphabet Today: A Randomized Trial of Sending Teacher-Written Postcards Home to Reduce Absences
Himmelsbach, Zachary; Weisenfeld, Dana; Lee, Jihyun Rachel; Hersh, David; Sanbonmatsu, Lisa; Staiger, Douglas O.; Kane, Thomas J.
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, v15 n2 p263-278 2022
As a growing base of evidence links student success with attendance, many states have chosen to include measures of student absenteeism in their accountability systems under ESSA. Consequently, school districts face strong incentives to improve attendance. We report on a randomized field experiment in which parents of early elementary students received personalized information about the academic content their child missed while absent. Following an absence, school staff sent postcards to parents detailing how many days of school their child had missed alongside a handwritten note from their teacher summarizing the academic material covered during the absence. We randomized the intervention across schools and classrooms in two urban school districts. The analysis sample included 5,552 students in preschool through second grade. Overall, the treatment reduced absences by 8.3% (95% CI, 2.6-14.0%). The results provide evidence that a postcard intervention designed and implemented by schools and teachers rather than 3rd parties can be effective in reducing absences. The teachers' annotations with personalized academic and absence information are a unique feature of the intervention that suggests areas for further research.
Descriptors: Letters (Correspondence), Attendance, Elementary School Teachers, Family School Relationship, Course Content, Intervention, Handwriting, Program Effectiveness, Kindergarten, Grade 1, Urban Schools
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education; Grade 1
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A