2018 Reports

Edu-Activism in the United States: Civic Participation on Educational Issues

Pizmony-Levy, Oren; Pallas, Aaron M.; Green Saraisky, Nancy

Recently, there has been a resurgence of education activism in the United States. Media headlines suggest that citizens are raising their voices loudly and publicly to challenge various aspects of the education system. As we thought about instances of protest in education, as well as the role of edu-business, we wondered how the general public thinks about civic participation on educational issues, and how active individuals are in voicing their concerns. To address this question, we followed past research on civic engagement in the United States, and conducted a public opinion survey where respondents were asked about different forms of political and social action that they might take regarding education and schools.

This survey paints a portrait of today’s education activists. It found that certain groups – liberals, women, blacks, college-educated, parents and young people – are more politically active than others around education issues.