Information, Knowledge and Behavior : Evaluating Alternative Methods of Delivering School Information to Parents
Improving education outcomes by disseminating information to parents and thereby encouraging them to become more actively engaged in school oversight is attractive, since it can be done relatively cheaply. This study evaluates the impact of alterna...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/04/24310282/information-knowledge-behavior-evaluating-alternative-methods-delivering-school-information-parents http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21847 |
| Summary: | Improving education outcomes by
disseminating information to parents and thereby encouraging
them to become more actively engaged in school oversight is
attractive, since it can be done relatively cheaply. This
study evaluates the impact of alternative approaches to
disseminating information about a school grants program in
Indonesia on parents knowledge about the program in general,
knowledge about the implementation of the program in their
childs school, and participation in school activities
related to the program as well as beyond it. Not all
dissemination approaches yielded impacts, and different
modes of dissemination conveyed different types of
information best, resulting in different impacts on
behavior. Specifically, the low-intensity approaches that
were tried—sending a letter from the principal home with the
child, or sending a colorful pamphlet home with the
child—had no impact on knowledge or participation. On the
other hand, holding a facilitated meeting with a range of
school stakeholders or sending targeted text messages to
parents did increase knowledge and participation.
Facilitated meetings mostly increased overall knowledge and
fostered a feeling of transparency on the part of parents,
which resulted in greater participation in formal channels
for providing feedback to the school. The text messages
increased knowledge about specific aspects of the program,
such as the grant amount, and tended to increase
participation through informal channels. |
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