Abstract We study the adoption and implementation of a new mobile communication application (app) among a sample of 132 New York City public schools. The app provides a platform for sharing general announcements and news, as well as engaging in personalized two-way communication with individual parents. We provide participating schools with free access to the app and randomize schools to receive intensive support (training, guidance, monitoring, and encouragement) for maximizing the efficacy of the app. Although user supports led to higher levels of communication within the app in the treatment year, overall usage remained low and declined in the following year when treatment schools no longer received intensive supports. We find few subsequent effects on perceptions of communication quality or student outcomes. We leverage rich internal user data to explore how take-up and usage patterns varied across staff and school characteristics. These analyses help to identify early adopters and reluctant users, revealing both opportunities and obstacles to engaging parents through new communication technology.

中文翻译：

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技术能否改变学校、教师和家长之间的沟通？来自随机现场试验的证据

摘要 我们研究了纽约市 132 所公立学校样本中新的移动通信应用程序 (app) 的采用和实施情况。该应用程序提供了一个分享一般公告和新闻的平台，以及与个别家长进行个性化的双向沟通​​。我们为参与的学校提供​​免费访问该应用程序的权限，并随机分配学校以获得强化支持（培训、指导、监督和鼓励），以最大限度地提高应用程序的功效。尽管用户支持在治疗年度提高了应用程序内的沟通水平，但总体使用率仍然很低，并且在第二年治疗学校不再获得强化支持时下降。我们发现对沟通质量或学生成绩的感知几乎没有后续影响。我们利用丰富的内部用户数据来探索员工和学校特征的使用和使用模式如何变化。这些分析有助于识别早期采用者和不情愿的用户，揭示通过新的通信技术吸引父母的机会和障碍。