Paternal Education Policy & Civic Engagement

Federal Education Policy & Civic EngagementSeth M. PorterCapstone Defense

OutlineFederal Education Policy OverviewPolicy Feedback TheoryEducation Policy & Policy Feedback TheoryPolicy Feedback & NCLBCivic EngagementResearch MethodologyResultsConclusion & Further Research

The BasicsFederal education policy Post WWII has grown immensely. The policies have evolved from equity driven to accountability and assessment driven. The policies themselves have had a marked effect on the civic engagement of the target groups. There has been much research on federal education policy and the political feedback effects on the great legislations of the 20th century, such as the G.I. Bill, NDEA, ESEA, and HEA, but very little on the paternal, accountability focused policies of the 21st century through the Policy Feedback Theory. The research project investigates paternalistic federal education policy, specifically No Child Left Behind, and its effects on the civic engagement of graduate students at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The design takes a holistic look at federal education policy through the 20th and 21st century, and measures the effect on civic engagement through survey methodology and investigates the correlation between the paternal policy of No Child Left Behind and the target groups civic engagement, and builds upon previous research to add to the literature on federal education policy and civic life. The statistical modeling is descriptive statistical analysis and bivariate analysis of multiple dependent variables that warrant further statistical analysis.

Model

Dependent Variables: perceptionPerception VariableDependent Variable Figure 1.1 Perception DV1How important would you say civic engagement is to you?Perception DV2How much confidence do you have your children's public schools? If you do not have children or if they dont attend public schools, please skip question.Perception DV3How much confidence do you have in the state government in general?Perception DV4How much confidence do you have in public schools in general?Perception DV5How much confidence do you have in the public schools you attended? If you did not attend public school please skip.Perception DV6How much confidence do you have in public officials?Perception DV7How much confidence do you have in the national government in general?Perception DV8How much confidence do you have in your local government in general?Perception DV9How much confidence do you have in national education policies such as No Child Left Behind?Perception DV10To what extent, if any, do you feel that your experience with the No Child left Behind law changed your views about the national government?Perception DV11To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind increase or decrease your confidence in national government?Perception DV12To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind increase or decrease your confidence in state government?Perception DV13To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind increase or decrease your confidence in local government?Perception DV14To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind affect your attitude, beliefs or opinion toward volunteering?Perception DV15To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind increase or decrease your confidence in public schools?Perception DV16To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind increase or decrease your confidence in public officials?Perception DV17To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind affect your attitude, beliefs or opinion towards voting?Perception DV18To what extent, if any, did the national standardized testing policy of No Child Left Behind affect your attitude, beliefs or opinion toward politics or discussing politics?

Dependent Variables: BehaviorBehavior VariableDependent Variable Figure 1.2Behavior DV1How often do you volunteer in your community? An example of this could be an activity such as mentoring youth, serving your community, serving food, fund-raising, and more?Behavior DV2How often do you discuss politics with friends?Behavior DV3Did you vote in the last presidential election in November 2012?Behavior DV4Did you vote in the last congressional election in November 2014?Behavior DV5If you had been eligible to vote would you have voted?Behavior DV6Have you ever contacted or visited a public official?

Descriptive Statistical Results

A few examples

Descriptive Statistical Results

Descriptive Statistical Results

Bivariate Analysis ResultsPerception VariableP ScoreCoefficientPerception DV1 .035 .210*Perception DV2Perception DV3.193.127Perception DV4.044 .196*Perception DV5 .069.210Perception DV6.011 .246*Perception DV7.481.069Perception DV8.058.185Perception DV9.004 .280**Perception DV10.380.096Perception DV11.530.060Perception DV12.288.104Perception DV13.064.181Perception DV14.530.062Perception DV15.163.136Perception DV16.046 .195*Perception DV17.208 .102Perception DV18.053.195*=significance level of 0.05 **=significance level of 0.01

Students who took part in NCLB

Bivariate Analysis ResultsBehavior VariableP ScoreCoefficientBehavior DV1.101.160Behavior DV2.284-.105Behavior DV3.000 1.000**Behavior DV4.002 .313**Behavior DV5.655 .048Behavior DV6.571 .056*=significance level of 0.05 **=significance level of 0.01

Bivariate Analysis ResultsPerception VariableP ScoreCoefficientPerception DV1 .267-.111Perception DV2 .721-.063Perception DV3.592-.053Perception DV4.128-.149Perception DV5 .497-.079Perception DV6.320.097Perception DV7.300-.102 Perception DV8.207-.123Perception DV9.990.001Perception DV10.630-.053Perception DV11.731.034Perception DV12.036-.204*Perception DV13.682.040Perception DV14.520.063Perception DV15.412.080Perception DV16.732-.034Perception DV17.519 .065Perception DV18.865-.017*=significance level of 0.05 **=significance level of 0.01

Parents whose children took part in NCLB

Parents whose children took part in NCLB19

Bivariate Analysis ResultsBehavior VariableP ScoreCoefficientBehavior DV1.111-.155Behavior DV2.645-.045Behavior DV3.993-.001Behavior DV4.363.092Behavior DV5.034 .225*Behavior DV6.029 .215**=significance level of 0.05 **=significance level of 0.01

Conclusions & Further Research Correlation between many of the dependent variables and program participation. However many had no relationship.Because of mitigating factors like:Individual culture, selection bias, small target group, IRB limitations, time, and more further research is needed. Larger, representative, target group.Each dependent variable needs further statistical analysis: T-test, Multiple Linear regressions.More subgroups need to be analyzed.