Parent reinforcement for child achievement: the use of a lottery to maximize parent training effects.

Three families wanted to help their kids learn new words at home.

The trainer taught parents to run short language drills each night.

Then she added a weekly lottery: if the child hit the week’s goal, the parent earned one ticket for a $5 prize draw.

The team flipped the lottery on and off four times to be sure any change came from the tickets.

When the lottery was on, kids mastered new words almost twice as fast.

Parents stuck to the drills better, too.

Gains dropped each time the lottery stopped and bounced back when it returned.

McGarty et al. (2018) ran a larger test and got the same lift: a tiny 50-cent cash reward to caregivers raised preschoolers’ print knowledge.

Conine et al. (2025) pushed the idea further. They trained parents with BST to teach response-to-name, then warned that gains faded unless the reinforcement kept coming.

de Kuijper et al. (2014) looked at an older parent program without extra rewards and found parent stress data so messy that results flipped depending on the stats used. The 1982 lottery study shows a simple fix: add a fun, low-cost reinforcer and the picture becomes clear and positive.

You now have two cheap tools that survive decades: lottery tickets or pocket change. Pick one, tie it to weekly child goals, and watch home practice soar. No extra staff, no fancy app—just immediate, low-cost reinforcement for the adult doing the work.