Working Paper: NBER ID: w21477
Authors: Roland G. Fryer Jr.; Steven D. Levitt; John A. List
Abstract: This article describes a randomized field experiment in which parents were provided financial incentives to engage in behaviors designed to increase early childhood cognitive and executive function skills through a parent academy. Parents were rewarded for attendance at early childhood sessions, completing homework assignments with their children, and for their child’s demonstration of mastery on interim assessments. This intervention had large and statistically significant positive impacts on both cognitive and non-cognitive test scores of Hispanics and Whites, but no impact on Blacks. These differential outcomes across races are not attributable to differences in observable characteristics (e.g. family size, mother’s age, mother’s education) or to the intensity of engagement with the program. Children with above median (pre-treatment) non cognitive scores accrue the most benefits from treatment.
Keywords: parental incentives; early childhood education; cognitive skills; noncognitive skills; racial disparities
JEL Codes: I20; J01
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Financial incentives to parents (J13) | Cognitive test scores among Hispanic children (I24) |
| Financial incentives to parents (J13) | Cognitive test scores among White children (I24) |
| Financial incentives to parents (J13) | Noncognitive test scores among Hispanic children (I24) |
| Financial incentives to parents (J13) | Noncognitive test scores among White children (I24) |
| Financial incentives to parents (J13) | Cognitive test scores among Black children (I24) |
| Financial incentives to parents (J13) | Noncognitive test scores among Black children (I24) |
| Above-median pretreatment noncognitive scores (I24) | Benefit from treatment in cognitive skills (D91) |
| Above-median pretreatment noncognitive scores (I24) | Benefit from treatment in noncognitive skills (J24) |