Parent-teacher meetings and student outcomes: Evidence from a developing country

Abstract

We conducted a randomized field experiment involving regularly scheduled face-to-face meetings between teachers and parents over a period of two academic years. At each of these meetings, the teacher provided the parents with a report card and discussed the child’s academic progress. We find that the overall test scores of the students in the treatment schools compared to control schools increased by 0.26 SD in the first year and 0.38 SD by the end of the second year. The program also resulted in improvements in both student attitudes and behavior and teachers’ pedagogical practices. The intervention encouraged parents to spend more time assisting their children and monitoring their school work. The treatment effects are robust across the parental, teacher, and school-level characteristics and the findings indicate that programs for stimulating parent–teacher interactions are cost-effective, easy to implement, and easy to scale up.

Authors: Asad Islam

Type: Journal Article

Year: December 2018

Key Results

  • Regular face-to-face meetings between teachers and parents resulted in an increase in student test scores of  0.26 SD in the first year and 0.38 SD by the end of the second year.
  • The intervention also improved student attitudes and behavior and teachers’ pedagogical practices. 
  • The program was cost-effective, easy to implement, and easy to scale up.