Math is for Girls: The Unequal Effects of Text Messaging to Help Parents Support Early Math Development
This study assesses the effects of two programs for parents aimed at supporting math development in prekindergarten students. Both programs use text-messaging to deliver content. One program focuses purely on math (the “pure math” program), while the other focuses on a combination of math, literacy, and social-emotional skills (the “combination” program). We find no evidence that the math-only program benefits children’s math development. However, the combination program shows greater promise, particularly for girls. When girls’ parents receive the combination program, their daughters — even those who start off the year behind boys in math — make learning gains in math that, on average, allow them to catch up to and even surpass the achievement level of their male counterparts.