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

• In Event: 75.015 - Nudging, Home Visits, and Collaborative Approaches to Family Engagement

Abstract

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 2016-17 attendance rate, with a “threshold” of a .90 attendance rate (missing 10% of days). Analyses established demographic equivalence of students in the .88 to .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 .09, p=.20), the effect size for middle school students (.34, p=.044) was “substantively important” by What Works Clearinghouse standards.

Authors

• Kellie Wills, University of Washington

• Martha Abele Mac Iver, Johns Hopkins University

• Anna Cruz, Seattle Public Schools

• Douglas J. Mac Iver, Johns Hopkins University