Journal Article

Learning Citizenship? How State Education Reforms Affect Parents' Political Attitudes and Behavior

Rhodes, Jesse H.

2015

Overview

Over the past three decades, the states have adopted a suite of reforms to their education systems in an effort to improve school performance. While scholars have speculated about the political consequences of these policies, to date there has been no empirical research investigating how these reforms affect the practice of American democracy. Combining data from an original survey of public school parents with information on state education standards, testing, and accountability policies, I examine how design features of these policies influence parents' attitudes about government, participation in politics, and involvement in their children's education. My research shows that parents residing in states with more developed assessment systems express more negative attitudes about government and education, and are less likely to become engaged in some forms of involvement in their children's education, than are parents who live in states with less developed assessment systems.

• Publisher: Springer Science+Business Media LLC,Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Academic achievement / Accountability / Attitudes / Behavior / Children / Citizenship / Democracy / Education policy / Education reform / Educational systems / Government / Learning / Original Paper / Parent attitudes / Parenthood education / Parents & parenting / Political attitudes / Political change / Political participation / Political Science / Political Science and International Relations / Political Science and International Studies / Politics / Public schools / Reforms / Research methodology / Sociology / State laws