The Ballot or the School: An Investigation of Affect Voter Turnout on Academic Achievement in California

Posted: 3 Nov 2013

See all articles by Jonathan Collins

Jonathan Collins

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Political Science

Date Written: November 1, 2013

Abstract

While social scientists have paid attention to the correlation between voter turnout and education as a proxy for civic norms, this project examines the way in which voter turnout affects school achievement in order to measure the effect of social capital. More specifically, this study investigates the impact of social capital for African American and Hispanic communities in California. Using turnout as a proxy for political participation, this exploration of social capital operates as a test of democracy. Higher levels of civic engagement should produce better, more effective schools for every community regardless of its racial composition. However, my results suggest that, for African Americans and Latinos in California, democratic citizen performance in the form of voting does not carry the same ability to improve schools in parts of the state at which black and brown people most heavily reside. Such a null finding for communities of color carries tremendous implications for a shortcoming of American democracy.

Keywords: politics,education, turnout, achievement

Suggested Citation

Collins, Jonathan, The Ballot or the School: An Investigation of Affect Voter Turnout on Academic Achievement in California (November 1, 2013). 2014 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2348961

Jonathan Collins (Contact Author)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Political Science ( email )

405 Hilgard Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1472
United States

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