Project Report

Project Description

• Partners: Early Childhood Alliance, In-home visitors were apart of Catholic Charities, Healthy Families, PEACE, and Salvation Army
• Intervention: Targeted literacy campaign
• Method: RCT
• Outcomes: Increased weekly reading with child

Project Report

The Maxwell X Lab partnered with the Early Childhood Alliance to evaluate whether a targeted literacy campaign could increase parent/guardian awareness of the importance of reading and communicating with young children. In-home visitors in four organizations—Catholic Charities, Healthy Families, PEACE, and Salvation Army—were randomly assigned to deliver educational items (e.g., toy, book, tips) and reinforce key concepts around early childhood development during their regular visits.

Outcomes were tracked via three parent surveys (a pre-survey, at one-month, and at three-months). Compared to baseline, treatment households increased weekly adult-child reading by 41 percent more than control households did. Additionally, treatment households were 26 to 39 percent more likely to say that birth is the critical age for reading and talking with children.