This paper presents the results of afield experiment in rural Sindh, Pakistan, where half of theschool-age children (ages 6-10 years) are out of school. Thestudy tests simple and low-intensity approaches tostrengthen engagement of communities with schools:face-to-face dialogue at externally facilitated communitymeetings, and ongoing, anonymous dialogue via text messages.The interventions increased communities' interest ineducation as measured through an improvement in the numberof functioning schools and, in the case of the text messagetreatment, substantial gains in retention of students ingrades 2, 3, and 4. On the supply side, the schoolssignificantly increased staffing and the share ofone-teacher schools was reduced; however, teacherabsenteeism increased, and there was no substantial impacton basic school infrastructure. Elections and capacitybuilding for school committees were implemented in across-over experimental design. The intervention underminedthe participation of communities in meetings and reducedimpacts on all indicators except new admissions andavailability of toilets in schools. No evidence is found ofimpact on measured test scores for any intervention.