This page covers the effectiveness trial of Tips by Text, which is testing the programme in a larger number of schools in circumstances that are as close as possible to everyday conditions. To read about the first trial of the programme – click here.
This programme was recruiting, but is now full.
What’s involved?
This programme, developed by The Behavioural Insights Team, delivers a 9‑month text curriculum to the parents of Reception children, sending 3 texts per week containing simple and practical activities to do at home with their children. It is designed to improve 4 – 5 year-olds’ literacy, language, numeracy and social and emotional skills. These texts are derived from the READY4K! Programme, developed and tested in California.
The first message of the week is designed to inform and motivate parents, the second offers a specific tip designed to fit into family routines, while the final message provides encouragement, reinforcement and a follow up tip.
The first message may involve sharing a fact such as, “Rhyming helps children learn that words are made up of sounds, which is an important step in learning to read”.
A typical tip message to help develop literacy skills might take the following form: “On the way home today, play a rhyming game with Jamie. Say: “Let’s play a rhyming game. I’ll say a word and you say one that rhymes.” Try hot (spot, cot), bear (care, hair) and green (bean, clean).”
And the final reinforcement message might read like this: “Keep rhyming! When you’re out and about, point out objects you see, like a tree. Ask Jamie: “What rhymes with tree?” (Bee, knee, sea).”
The EEF’s Early Years Toolkit indicates that parental engagement approaches significantly influence pupils’ outcomes. The Tips by Text programme utilises a format that actively involves parents by providing specific and easily implementable activities aimed at enhancing language, literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills. This format, derived from READY4K!, has already demonstrated positive effects on child outcomes in the United States – the programme improved literacy outcomes for 4 – 5 year-olds by the equivalent of two months of additional schooling.
To explore benefits of this easy and low-cost solution, in 2020, the EEF commissioned an evaluation of the low-cost Tips by Text project, but Covid-19-related school closures meant that outcome data for 70% of the sample could not be obtained. With these caveats in mind, children whose parents used the Tips by Text programme didn’t show extra progress in literacy skills compared to those without it. This was expected given the large amount of missing data. The current randomised control trial intends to explore the potential impact from bringing this programme to more schools, in an uninterrupted school year.
This project will be evaluated by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and the Institute for Employment Studies through a randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes., randomised at parent level. This means that the texts will be delivered to half of the parents/carers of reception children in each participating school. Randomised Controlled TrialsAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes. are the best way to find out the impact of the approach being tested.
Impact will be measured by administering pre- and post-tests in participating schools, covering language skills and self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their behaviour in different circumstances., taking approximately 20 minutes per child. External researchers will conduct these assessments at a pre-arranged time.
An Implementation and Process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will be conducted alongside the Impact evaluation to explore parents’ views of Tips by Text.
The evaluation report will be published in Autumn 2026.