Do Behavioral Nudges Work Under Remote Learning? Evidence from Brazil During the Pandemic

Behavioral nudges have been shown to increase student attendance and grades across a variety of settings. In low- and middle-income countries, these effects are often mediated by parents showing up in school to a greater extent, ultimately monitoring teachers more closely. As such, could nudges improve educational outcomes even under remote learning? In particular, could they prevent at least part of the dramatic learning losses in the context of COVID-19, which left billions of children around the world without in-person classes? We study this question using a cluster-randomized control trial with 18, 256 students across 87 high schools in the State of Goiás, Brazil. We find that motivational nudges sent through text messages to students or their caregivers under remote learning significantly increased standardized test scores relative to the control group, preventing 7.5% of learning losses in math and 24% in Portuguese. Additional experiments that varied the content of nudges at the student level illustrate the opportunities and challenges of using behavioral insights to motivate students in the context of remote learning.

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3724386