Does Higher Parental Involvement Lead to Learning Gains? Experimental Evidence from Indonesia

We study how information delivered by teachers to parents on students’ learning progress and guidelines for active involvement in children's education can improve learning outcomes. We conducted a randomized control trial experiment in 130 primary schools in Kebumen District, Central Java, Indonesia. The implementation of the intervention collided with the school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to the significance of this intervention to help parents in undertaking learning from home. We find that the intervention increased parental involvement at home and communication with teachers. The information also improved parental demand to teachers which increased teachers’ motivation and support in students’ learning. However, the positive impacts on parents and teachers did not translate into improved student numeracy test scores. Further investigation revealed that parents' low capability to teach their children and the lack of right support given by teachers to students during learning from home hindered the impact on learning outcomes.