Explaining Public Opinion towards a Federal Educational Reform: The Impact of Accountability, Symbolism, Group Interest, and Authoritarianism on Support for the No Child Left Behind Law

• Main Author: Holland, Jonathon
• Format: Others
• Published: UKnowledge 2014
• Subjects: Education; Symbolic politics; Self/Group Interest; Authoritarianism; No Child Left Behind; Educational Sociology; Politics and Social Change; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Sociology
• Online Access: http://uknowledge.uky.edu/sociology_etds/17; http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=sociology_etds

This study focuses on public opinion of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The act is a federal reform act, therefore politicians will pay attention to voters’ opinions of the law when considering if they should pass future legislation like it. Data were collected from a sample population of United States citizens by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International. People’s educational views, political views, group interests, and authoritarian views were all used to measure which groups have a positive attitude toward NCLB. Logistic regression was used to test several models to predict which groups have the strongest opinion of the law. The results indicate people’s views toward standardized testing, Republicans, and parents are the groups most likely to have a positive view of the law, followed closely by people with authoritarian attitudes.