Parent-delivered READY4K! text messages improve preschool children's early literacy performance¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2016 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Evidence quality · No study behind this claim is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on a source with no registered publication record (a web page, book or unpublished report). It is kept because a design page cites it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 Children whose parents received READY4K! texts performed significantly better than the control group on the PALS assessment (effect size = +0.11). → ParentPowered READY4K! Evidence Summary 2016

Evidence¶

ParentPowered READY4K! Evidence Summary 2016¶

ParentPowered READY4K! Evidence Summary. (2016). https://evidenceforessa.org/program/parentpowered-ready4k/

q3 · i1 · causal · r2

Randomized controlled trial with the San Francisco Unified School District during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 school years; over 1,000 parents of preschool children, half randomly assigned to receive weekly texts. The treatment group "performed significantly better than the control group" on PALS with effect size = +0.11.

"Results from the RCT showed that children whose parents received READY4K! texts performed significantly better than the control group on the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) assessment (effect size = +0.11)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• READY4K! improves teacher-reported parental involvement at school — related
• In kindergarten, READY4K! messages raise literacy scores, with the largest gains in the personalized messaging arm — related
• READY4K! literacy gains are largest for children in the lower half of the baseline skill distribution — related
• Parent Involvement Improves Early Reading — a broader claim this one bears on
• Joint Book Reading Predicts Literacy Success — related
• Parent Coaching Outperforms Information Only — related
• Parent involvement is associated with higher academic achievement in meta-analyses of mostly correlational studies — related
• An online individualized instruction program was highly effective in improving literacy skills in preschool through third grade — related
• Text-message alerts to parents about incomplete middle-school homework raise student performance — related
• Family participation in Growing Strong Learners was high and similar for EL and non-EL families: 97% attended at least one APTT meeting and 92% participated in Ready4K — related
• Research on family-implemented literacy interventions for school-aged children is sparse and concentrated in early elementary grades, with no studies of older children meeting inclusion criteria — related
• Children gain more from interventions administered by researchers or combined implementers than by parents — related
• The Tips by Text intervention did not produce significant improvements in children's early reading-related skills (YARC) relative to control — reports the opposite
• The Tips by Text intervention did not produce significant improvements in children's socioemotional outcomes (SDQ) relative to control — related