The Opt Out Movement's Impact on Local School Politics

• In Event: Parent Activism: The Opt-Out Movement

Abstract

The opt out movement represents a dramatic public challenge to today’s school reform agenda, yet little empirical research has examined the political impact of this parent activism on local school communities. To address this gap, this paper uses survey, interview, and document-based data to explore the political impact of opt out activism in four New York school districts. Results suggest that opt out activism has effectively mobilized parents as political actors, enhanced their political knowledge, and promoted feelings of political efficacy. However, it has yielded few policy changes at the local level. Furthermore, district leaders have varied in their responses to the movement depending on their political context, with some passively accommodating it and others taking a more adversarial stance.

Author

• David Casalaspi, Michigan State University