Bright by Text

Bright by Text is a two-generation program with curated content for caregivers of children from prenatal to eight years old. The program is based on seminal research findings and includes expert content from Vroom, PBS, and others. Bright by Text delivers bite-sized doses of research-based curriculum right to a caregiver’s cellphone. Each message contains a concept, resource, or activity, and links to a landing page with more details and examples, links to related resources, and many include a short modeling video to demonstrate the behavior or activity.

Bright by Text is designed to equip each user with unique content. Messages are tailored to the age of the child, distributing the right resources when they are needed. We work with community partners to create localized messages based on the family’s zip code or county. Local message capability has been adopted by partners and receives a high level of engagement from caregivers, with 26% of families actually attending events and utilizing resources they heard about through Bright by Text.

Bright by Text remains a truly unique program and the only of its kind with localized messaging tailored to zip code. An example of our qualitative impact was relayed by our Dallas partners. A local library in Dallas held a weekly storytime with single-digit attendance. Our SmartStart Texas partners sent this local message: “Playing is learning! Bring your toddlers to Play & Learn at the Plano Haggard Library on Mondays @ 11am” with a link leading to the event signup page on the library’s website. This text resulted in 30+ new regular attendees, including two moms who had met a previous events promoted through Bright by Text and became friends, strengthening their own network and community of support. Leveraging existing data overlays, Bright by Text can also map subscriber locations combined with publicly available information identifying low income areas and HPSA’s (Health Professional Shortage Areas). These visualizations can enlighten service gaps or hot spots and aid in assessing impact for a variety of programs.

Partnerships across the country fuel our confidence that Bright by Text has a real demand and value in rural, suburban, and urban communities. As we collect increasing data from families suggesting that texts are a valued and effective way to receive information, we are excited to deliver this resource to new sites in the United States and share our findings with other innovators and leaders in the early childhood field.

We have developed the ability for Bright by Text to distribute survey evaluations via text message. This allows us to reach a larger sample more cost-effectively and allows caregivers to complete the assessment at their convenience compared to costly and inefficient phone surveys. All Bright by Text families in the region have been invited to respond to five surveys: the Profile Building Survey, the Getting to Know You survey, Bright by Text Feedback survey, Technology Use survey, and Parent Stress Scale survey. Through this internal research and surveys conducted over the past year, we know that 37% of survey respondents indicate that they are “full-time homemakers”, suggesting that Bright by Text is reaching a population that truly needs ongoing support. In order to meet child care responsibilities, caregivers need relevant information, community resources, and a network of other caregivers, and Bright by Text provides the architecture for these essential components of parenting/caregiving. We are excited to see that families value our program enough to involve their own FFN (family, friend, neighbor) network of caregivers, indicating that Bright by Text is in high demand among families across the nation.

Based on research executed by Marzano Research Laboratory, we know that 97% of respondents are likely to recommend the program to a friend or family member and in fact 69% of survey respondents have already told another family about Bright by Text. We achieved our goal of 70% of respondents reporting a positive change in caregiver behavior promoting their child’s development considering that 76% of subscribers report reading to their infant 4 or more days a week. In fact, 89% of Bright by Text children are on-target or ahead in terms of language acquisition. The study showed that 84% of Bright by Text parents and caregivers point or name pictures as they read to their infant. According to the LENA Snapshot conducted by Marzano, we surpassed our second evaluation goal with 89% of Bright by Text children are on target or ahead in terms of language development. Using the Parent Stress Scale (PSS), Marzano findings showed that 92% of Bright by Text subscribers report feeling more confident as a parent as a result of receiving texts, meeting our final evaluation goal of 70% of caregivers who receive local messages will indicate increased knowledge of under-utilized support resources. A recent survey indicated that one-third of families who received a local message confirmed that they attended an event as a result of receiving the message. Families across the US who have less access to services are learning about and utilizing resources through Bright by Text.