Can Technology Transform Teacher-Parent Communication? Evidence from a Randomized Field Trial
Alexander Bolves Matthew Kraft
2019
We explore the potential for mobile technology to facilitate more frequent and higher-quality teacher-parent communication among a sample of 132 New York City public schools. We provide participating schools with free access to a mobile communication app and randomize schools to receive intensive training and guidance for maximizing the efficacy of the app. User supports led to substantially higher levels of communication within the app in the treatment year, but had few subsequent effects on
more »
... rceptions of communication quality or student outcomes. Treatment teachers used the app less frequently the following year when they no longer received communication tips and reminders. We analyze internal user data to suggest organizational policies schools might adopt to increase the take-up and impacts of mobile communication technology. Abstract We explore the potential for mobile technology to facilitate more frequent and higher-quality teacher-parent communication among a sample of 132 New York City public schools. We provide participating schools with free access to a mobile communication app and randomize schools to receive intensive training and guidance for maximizing the efficacy of the app. User supports led to substantially higher levels of communication within the app in the treatment year, but had few subsequent effects on perceptions of communication quality or student outcomes. Treatment teachers used the app less frequently the following year when they no longer received communication tips and reminders. We analyze internal user data to suggest organizational policies schools might adopt to increase the take-up and impacts of mobile communication technology. JEL Codes: I20, I21, D83 2 I. INTRODUCTION For decades, reformers and policymakers have looked to technology as a potential revolutionizing force in education. By 2020, the total valuation of the education technology industry is expected to reach over a quarter of a trillion dollars ( Escueta et al., 2017). Advances in information and communication technology have created new opportunities for personalized learning through adaptive tutoring programs, increased access to education through Massive Open Online Courses, and redefined the traditional role of teachers through flipped classrooms and blended learning. Technological advances have also begun to fundamentally change the ways in which schools and teachers communicate with parents and coordinate their efforts. Studies show that parents play a key role in supporting student achievement by fostering positive learning environments at home and engaging in their students' schooling (Todd & Wolpin, 2007; Houtenville & Conway, 2008). Over two decades ago, email and online gradebooks created new opportunities to improve communication and reduce information frictions between teachers, parents, and students. Schools have adopted these web-based communication technologies widely, but not all families have benefitted equally. Many families have had difficulties accessing email and online gradebooks because of limited computer access, technological proficiency, and English fluency. The emergence of mobile communication applications (apps) presents new opportunities to better connect schools with families given that access to smartphones is becoming nearly universal (Pew Research Center, 2018). This next generation of mobile technologies consolidates school-wide and individualized communications with families through platforms with features such as individual and group messaging, posting boards, and automatic translations. Such features have the potential to provide for more reliable and convenient way for teachers and 3 parents to communicate than backpack letters, phone calls, or other common methods. Since 2010, a large marketplace has developed around these mobile apps. For example, the communication app Class Dojo supports 35 million users across 180 countries and was recently valued at $100 million (Crunchbase, 2018). Edmodo, another education-technology communication app, reports a network of more than 85 million users (Edmodo, 2018). Despite the apparent demand for mobile communication apps, little is understood about who uses them, how they are used, and what their effects are on communication quality and student success in school. In this paper, we analyze how educators and parents use SchoolCNXT, a mobile communication app, and evaluate the importance of user supports for maximizing app usage and efficacy among a sample of 132 New York City (NYC) Public Schools. Previous evidence suggests that communication technologiessuch as health information systems and sales force automation systemshave heterogeneous effects on organizational effectiveness depending on the quality of training and support provided to employees (Ahearne et al., 2004; Cresswell & Sheikh, 2013). We provided all participating schools with free access to SchoolCNXT and randomly assigned them to receive either basic supports or more intensive training and guidance on how to leverage the new technology. Intensive supports included school visits from a SchoolCNXT coordinator, in-person and online training sessions tailored to individual schools' needs, regular personalized email communication with usage reports and tips, and individual and school-wide recognition incentives for active users. Basic supports consisted of webinar training sessions, a standard technical support hotline, and general product emails. We evaluate the effects of supplementing access to SchoolCNXT with intensive implementation supports on a range of outcomes including usage measures, perceptions about Ahearne, M., Jelinek, R., & Rapp, A. (2005). Moving beyond the direct effect of SFA adoption on salesperson performance: Training and support as key moderating factors. Industrial Marketing Management, 34(4), 379-388. Bergman, P. (2012). The more you know: Evidence from a field experiment on parent-child information frictions and human capital investment.
doi:10.26300/b00q-nf03
fatcat:srttztpmtfblhidbii5rdopgea