Stimulating parental investments in early childhood:Experimental evidence on a technology-aided preschoolintervention in India

The article presents results from an experimental evaluation of a promising technology-aided intervention to raise cognitive achievement among preschool-aged students in the state of Maharashtra. The in-tervention provided a structured curriculum of activities focused on child development for parents to do with their children. It was delivered to parents of currently-enrolled children in govermment preschools using WhatsApp groups set up by preschool workers. The intervention significantly increased information delivered to parents, and increased parental engagement with the material. Parents also report that the program benefited their children and improved child engagement. However, no effects on objective student assessments of numeracy, language, or executive functioning were found. Such technology-aided interventions may have significant potential to improve the delivery of interventions to improve parent engagement with child development, even at scale, but may need substantial iteration to improve school readiness effectively.