Americans with more education vote at higher rates. Some studies have found evidence of a causal relationship, while others have not. The available data also tell us little about why and how education increases voting. The authors looked the educational trajectories and adult voting records of students who attend charter schools in Boston. The…

Congressional scholars have long analyzed legislative behavior by examining roll call votes. The study of roll call votes has rarely been extended to particular policy areas, with a few exceptions, such as abortion and environmental issues. This study examines roll call voting in the area of higher education policy. In examining voting patterns…

Using logistic regression, this study sought to understand the relationship between district characteristics, district finances, levy characteristics, and campaign expenditures with new operating levy outcomes. We found that employee benefits as a percentage of the district's budget were negatively associated with levy outcomes, while salaries…

It is possible that human capital produces positive externalities to the society indirectly, through non-market channels such as health or crime. Another such channel could be the effect of education on the functioning of democratic decision-making. Measures of the functioning of democracy are bound to be controversial, but one such measure--voter…

Social scientists in the United States have been reluctant to use ideological/demographic research to explain and predict voting behavior because of criticism from survey researchers that such an approach provides interpretations only of aggregate data, cannot establish a direct causal link between independent characteristics and voting behavior,…

Published six times a year, the newsletter keeps educators abreast of assessment studies; forthcoming reports; staff announcements, meetings, and services rendered; notes of interest; and publications. The newsletter allows for dissemination of current information of the National Assessment which provides data to measure student knowledge, skills…

Voters in five states approved referenda making English their official language. The vote is used to assess racial, ethnic, economic, political, and cultural hypotheses. The racial and cultural hypotheses are not validated; the ethnic and class ones are partially supported; and the political hypothesis offers the most compelling explanation. (26…

To examine whether voting behavior is a good indicator of public opinion toward controversial issues such as nuclear power, a study was undertaken to assess the meaning of the defeat of Proposition 15 in California in June, 1976. Proposition 15 called for more stringent legislative regulation of the nuclear power industry. Specifically, the study…

A study was undertaken in Washington state to investigate voting behavior on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was approved by Washington state voters in 1972. Specifically, research objectives were to determine who was for or against the ERA, to assess the nature of objections to the ERA, and to consider implications of the ERA for family…