Characteristics of the opt-out movement: Early evidence for Colorado

Clayton, Grant; Bingham, Andrea J.; Ecks, Gregory B.

doi:10.14507/epaa.27.4126

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…On the other hand, a parent-led opt-out movement in which families remove their children from participation in mandated testing has also grown dramatically since 2015 (Clayton et al, 2019). Although this movement has been modest in scope in most places, in some communities opt-out rates are high, and parents' collective perceived interests, and the frames they use to justify those perceptions, have come to operate as new district-or regional-level modes of reproduction, continually reproducing nonparticipation in tests at the individual level (Morel, 2021).…”

Section: Changementioning

confidence: 99%

What Sticks and Why? A MoRe Institutional Framework for Education Research

Anderson

Colyvas²

2021

Teachers College Record

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Context For decades, educational leaders and researchers have faced a puzzle: Too often, promising new initiatives are adopted only to be quickly discontinued, while other longstanding practices persist despite efforts to undo them. Purpose We provide a framework for analyzing both change and persistence that we argue can shed new light on what sticks and why. Our MoRe institutional approach focuses analytic attention on self-activating modes of reproduction and their observable outcomes. Doing so allows for engagement with processes of both institutionalization and de-institutionalization. Research Design We make the case for our MoRe institutional framework by synthesizing across theoretical and empirical literature from both within and outside education. We address common treatments of persistence and change, as well as briefly review scholarship on institutional theory, and identify seven modes of reproduction structuring educational outcomes. We illustrate the utility of our approach concretely using the case of high-stakes testing. Synthesizing existing research across multiple levels of analysis, we demonstrate the ways that high-stakes testing is institutionalized via multiple mechanisms at multiple levels, while also analyzing possibilities for its de-institutionalization. Recommendations We conclude with implications for using the framework, focusing on strategies for supporting transformative equity-oriented change. These include processes for analyzing existing educational structures and identifying possible avenues for change, as well as design principles for protecting new practices from churn.

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Section: Changementioning

confidence: 99%

What Sticks and Why? A MoRe Institutional Framework for Education Research

Anderson

Colyvas²

2021

Teachers College Record

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“…Opt-out is a national movement (Pizmony-Levy & Green Saraisky, 2016) based on local efforts as expressed in New York (Hursh, 2019;Wang, 2017), Colorado (Clayton et al, 2019), and Florida (Schroeder et al, 2018). While these and other studies address opt-out demographics (Paquin Morel, 2019) and public perception of the movement (Pizmony- Levy & Cosman, 2017), fewer studies address the political activism that extends beyond the act of refusing specific tests to changing standardized testing policy.…”

Section: Conclusion/recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…New York's high opt-out rates, particularly in affluent areas such as Long Island, and the weight of available studies combine to suggest New York forms an epicenter for the opt-out movement. While opt-out is occurring in other states including Florida (Currin et al, 2018;Schroeder et al, 2018) and Colorado (Clayton et al, 2019), Western states in general and Arizona in particular are underrepresented in the literature.…”

Section: Opt-out Movement Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Opt-out participants tend to belong to certain demographic and stakeholder groups pursuing common goals. The opt-out movement is generally composed of White and relatively affluent participants (Bennett, 2016;Clayton et al, 2019;Pizmony-Levy & Green Saraisky, 2016). Parents form the key stakeholder group in driving opt-out (Casalaspi, 2019;Currin et al, 2018;Mitra, Mann, & Hlavacik, 2016;Paquin Morel, 2019).…”

Section: Opt-out Movement Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Disassembling Efforts to Legalize Opting-Out in Arizona: A Case Study of Legislative Politics

Szolowicz

2021

Teachers College Record

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Background/Context Opt-out is a national movement based on local efforts as most notably expressed in New York. While studies have addressed opt-out demographics and local impact, fewer studies address the political activism that extends beyond the act of refusing specific tests to changing standardized testing policy. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This case study extends understanding of the opt-out phenomenon by examining and disassembling a case of efforts to legalize opting-out of state-mandated testing through a state legislative process. The policy reform efforts are framed and disassembled through the discourse of the New Right and elements of the political spectacle. Setting This study is set in the Arizona State Legislature's 2015 and 2016 sessions. Population/Participants/Subjects This study follows the efforts of state legislative policy actors including state legislators, state department of education officials, the state teacher association, and parent opt-out activists. Research Design This is a qualitative case study examining three bills intending to legalize opting-out introduced across two state legislative sessions. Data Collection and Analysis Data were collected utilizing progressive theoretical sampling to identify key legislative policy actors and collect public statements regarding the pending legislation. Data focused on legislative hearings and floor votes publicly archived on the legislature's website. Text of the bills along with contemporary social and traditional media statements were also collected, as were interviews with two state legislators. Data were analyzed for themes arising from the participants themselves, for elements of the New Right discourse, and for elements of the political spectacle. Findings/Results The generally White and affluent demographics of this case's opt-out movement leadership reflect national patterns. Likewise, the movement leadership focused on themes of local control and privacy rights. This vaguely symbolic language combined with casting big government as enemies suggests a fluency in the spectacle of modern legislative politics. Ultimately, opt-out proponents compromised in favor of a new policy initiative reflecting themes of neoliberalism and neoconservatism, the Menu of Assessments. Conclusions/Recommendations The compromise with the experimental Menu of Assessments policy to gain more local control over tests while keeping the expectation of testing in place suggests a limited victory for democracy. However, the Arizona opt-out movement's legislative efforts might also be understood as tension within the hegemonic New Right coalition.

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“…A national survey of opt-out activists from 47 states found that respondents were mostly parents or caregivers of school-aged children and almost half of the activists were teachers or educators (Pizmony-Levy & Green Saraisky, 2016). In a study of the Colorado opt-out movement, researchers used school-level data to demonstrate that widespread participation in opt-out was most prevalent in suburban and rural areas and in higher SES communities with high performing schools (Clayton, Bingham & Ecks, 2019). Additionally, scholars have looked at the role of women in the movement (Schroeder, Currin & McCardle, 2018).…”

Section: The Opt-out Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

From policy networks to policy preferences: Organizational networks in the opt-out movement

Saraisky

Pizmony-Levy

2020

EPAA

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Organizational networks shape education policy by influencing power holders and elites, but do they have similar effects on grassroots activists? We use data from the National Survey on Opting Out (2016 and 2018; n = 2,909) to examine the role of organizational networks in mobilizing activists in the opt-out movement (a movement in which parents and caregivers refuse to have their children sit for standardized tests). Despite characterizations of the opt-out movement as a bunch of “soccer moms” disappointed with their children’s test scores, our findings show that opt-out is in fact a structured movement reliant on social movement organizations (SMOs) with agendas that go beyond standardized tests. Further, we demonstrate a small but significant correlation between contact with SMOs and individual policy preferences. These patterns suggest that organizational networks may inform education policy by creating a social space for activists to learn about different policy ideas in education. We discuss implications for research and practice.

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Characteristics of the opt-out movement: Early evidence for Colorado

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

What Sticks and Why? A MoRe Institutional Framework for Education Research

What Sticks and Why? A MoRe Institutional Framework for Education Research

Disassembling Efforts to Legalize Opting-Out in Arizona: A Case Study of Legislative Politics

From policy networks to policy preferences: Organizational networks in the opt-out movement

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