The Impact of Nudge Letters on Improving Attendance in an Urban District

Bibliographic Data

ID9728985
AuthorsMartha Abele Mac Iver (0000-0002-1941-8517, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, corresponding author), Kellie Wills (University of Washington and Seattle Public Schools, USA), Anna Cruz (Seattle Public Schools, WA, USA), Anna De La Cruz (Seattle Public Schools), Douglas J Mac Iver (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA)
Year2022
Volume54
Issue2
Pages164-185
Publication date2022-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducation and Urban Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-1245 • E-ISSN: 1552-3535
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00131245211004561
OpenAlexW3144268386
LanguageEN
References cited32

This study evaluates a “nudge letter” to parents intervention designed to reduce chronic absenteeism among students in one urban district. Using a regression discontinuity design (RDD), it estimates the impact of the intervention on improving student attendance. The forcing variable for the RDD was 2016–2017 attendance rate, with a “threshold” of a 0.90 attendance rate (missing 10% of days). Analyses established demographic equivalence of students in the 0.88 to 0.92 baseline attendance bandwidth. Although the overall impact of the intervention on attendance change between Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 (first-quarter attendance) was small and non-significant (ES 0.09, p = .20), the effect size for middle school students (0.34, p = .044) was “substantively important” by What Works Clearinghouse standards. The effect of the intervention on the full year’s attendance rate was not significant

Absenteeism · Attendance · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Intervention (counseling · Psychiatry · Quarter (Canadian coin · Sociology · Demography · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Medicine · Parental Involvement in Education · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Substance Use and School Attendance