The Increase in Children’s Math Skill from an Experimental Increase in Parent Investment in Math Activities

Almost none of the research showing that greater parent engagement increases children’s cognitive skill exogenously increases parent engagement. In a randomized experiment we find that providing parents with information and materials relevant to engaging in math activities along with text messages to reduce present bias increased both parents’ engagement in math activities and children’s math skill. But a separate treatment that provided families with an electronic tablet and math apps that required no parent engagement increased math skill by at least as much.