Compulsory Attendance Laws Research Articles

Wheeling into school and out of crime: Evidence from linking driving licenses to minimum academic requirements

“No Pass No Drive” (NPND) laws deny or revoke driver's licenses to minors if they drop out of school, are frequent truants, show behavioral problems, or have a low academic performance. Using Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrest data, we exploit state, time, and cohort variation to show that NPND laws are associated with a significant decline in total crime, DUI and property crimes among 16 to 18 year old males, and in DUIs among 16 to 18 year old females. We argue that NPND laws are a relatively low cost policy alternative to compulsory attendance laws that increase education and generate positive externalities. To explore unreported in-school crimes, we use micro data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and find that NPND laws decrease in-school risky activities. However, we also find that they have unintended consequences for in-school risky behavior when accompanied with strict academic or behavioral requirements.

Raising the Compulsory Age of Attendance in Manitoba Schools: Uneven Results

Compulsory school attendance policies establish a school entry age and a school leaving age for students. In 1916, the Province of Manitoba introduced a compulsory attendance law that mandated students attend school from the age of 7 to the age of 14. Fifty years later, further amendments were made to the school leaving age, but the school entry age did not change. On December 6, 2010, the Province of Manitoba presented Bill 13: The Preparing Students for Success Act in the provincial legislature increasing the compulsory school attendance age in Manitoba from 16 to 18. The purpose of this statute was to ensure that students stay in school and complete their high school education in response to continually low high school graduation rates in the province. Manitoba became only the 3rd province in Canada to enact a compulsory school leaving age of 18. The impact of this legislation on educators and administrators was included in the findings of a dissertation that analysed the policy that introduced this increase in the school leaving age as well as its historical precedents. The primary question of this paper addresses is, “How did educators and administrators interpret and implement the increase to the compulsory school leaving age to 18 years in three Manitoba schools as a result of The Preparing Students for Success Act 2011? This paper is organized in three parts. Part I reviews the statutory history and rationale in Canada for a compulsory school attendance age limit. Part II looks at the Manitoba rationale for increasing the school attendance age through The Preparing Students for Success Act 2011 as well as its success at meeting this policy’s objective. Part III provides a reflection on lessons learned from the Manitoba experience.

Laws, educational outcomes, and returns to schooling evidence from the first wave of U.S. state compulsory attendance laws

The nineteenth and twentieth century saw two waves of state schooling laws. The first wave focused on children to age 14 and the second wave focused on high school. Using the full count 1940 census and a new coding of state laws, this paper provides new estimates of the effects of the first wave of laws. The analysis focuses on cohorts of prime working age between 1910 and 1940. IV estimates of returns to schooling range from 0.067 to 0.077. Quantile IV estimates show the returns were largest for the lowest quantiles, and were generally monotonically decreasing for higher quantiles.

Neutralidad liberal y libertad religiosa. Consecuencias de la STC 133/2010 para la práctica del home schooling

El trabajo analiza los principales argumentos a favor y en contra de la educación en casa, o home schooling. A partir de la distinción entre la autoridad de los padres y la de los poderes públicos en la educación de los menores, el artículo desarrolla sucesivamente uno y otro tema, haciendo especial énfasis en la argumentación desarrollada por la Sentencia núm. 133/2010 del Tribunal Constitucional que por el momento ha cerrado el debate en torno a esta práctica. El texto argumenta que la escolarización obligatoria, tal y como la regula la ley, no viola el principio de proporcionalidad en sentido estricto ni el de neutralidad del Estado liberal

Human capital and sorting models reconsidered

Turkey changed its compulsory attendance law in the 1997-1998 academic year. The requirement increased from five to eight years of primary education. After the law change, there is an abrupt increase in the high school enrollment rate. This is despite the fact that the law does not cover high school education. By using the 2003 household budget survey and differences in differences methodology, we find that a typical student is 3.2 percent more likely to have high school education if he is subject to the new law. Moreover, the largest increase in the likelihood of having high school education is attained by the students who have the weakest socioeconomic background. These findings are consistent with the standard sorting model but contrast the standard human capital model.

Why Liberals Can Favour Compulsory Attendance

It has been argued that compulsory voting conflicts with a number of liberal commitments, such as free thought, free speech and privacy. This article aims to show that compulsory voting, which is actually a misnomer for compulsory attendance, can in fact be defended on a liberal basis. If understood correctly, compulsory attendance laws and liberalism fit quite easily together.

Studieengagemang i grundskolan – Betydelsen av kön, etnicitet och lärarstöd

The aim of this thesis is to examine children’s educational conditions in senior compulsory school. The purpose is to compare girls and boys’ conditions on the basis of ethnical background. The thesis includes four articles. The first three are based on questionnaire data from 1,193 children, 13 to 15 years old, at four Swedish municipal schools. The last article includes two studies: A study conducted among the headmasters at the four schools and a study of the compulsory school attendance law. The first article introduces a study concerning parental involvement in their children’s education. The aim is to examine the children’s experience of their parents’ assistance in their homework, participation in school meetings and interest in their education. Finally, these topics are analysed in relation to the children’s own involvement in their education. The second article introduces a study concerning schoolchildren’s involvement in their own education and factors that correlate, beside parental involvement. The implicit aim is to study the children’s experience of teacher support, their situation in school and attitudes towards university education. The third article introduces a study concerning parent’s directives regarding their child’s participation in social activities. The aim of the study is to examine how many children that are not allowed to participate in social activities and some educational elements at school, for example psychical education and school journeys. The results of the questionnaire show great complexity concerning how the children experience their conditions, where sex/gender and ethnicity correlate. The last article examines the conflicts that may arise between the educational system and the parents regarding specific elements in their child’s education. This study examines the attitude of the schools towards allowing children to refrain from compulsory attendance at the family’s request. Results show that the attitude towards the families varies between the schools. The compulsory attendance law is indistinct, but legal cases show that it is illegal to allow children to refrain from specific elements within the education to fulfil the parent’s wishes.

The Complexity of Compulsory Attendance

PERHAPS the most notorious school-skippers, real or fictional, are Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer--characters brought into being by their similarly adventure-seeking creator, Samuel Clemens, or Mark Twain. Tom and Huck (and Twain) were all about escape and freedom. When Huckleberry Finn went to live with the Widow Douglas, she took him for a son and allowed she would sivilize him. We all know how successful she was. Huck could not be sivilized. All he wanted to do was head out for a smoke and get out of his rigid, confining clothes. Huck has never been alone in wanting to live free. There have always been many like him, and that is why we have compulsory education laws. Early civilized communities recognized that the only way to keep students in school up to a certain age was to them go. (Massachusetts was the first, in 1852, to mandate compulsory attendance for children between the ages of 8 and 14.) Compulsory attendance laws specify the age for starting school and the age at which students may follow Huck outdoors for adventure without getting dragged back in by the ear. In doing so, these laws not only the kids go to school, but put pressure on parents to get them there. PRESSURES FOR CHANGE Since A Nation at Risk came out in 1983, an increasing number of lawmakers have attempted to curb the adventures of young people by raising the age at which students may leave school. In 1960, four states set the age at 18. That number had increased to just five by 1970, but by the end of 2006, 16 states required students to attend school until the age of 18 or graduation, whichever comes first. (For a look at compulsory schooling laws in all the states, visit www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/64/07/6407.pdf.) Today, perhaps the greatest pressure to keep kids in school longer is coming from the No Child Left Behind Act. NCLB establishes graduation rates as one of the measures that determine whether a school makes adequate yearly progress. While each state sets its own graduation rate target, the law holds schools accountable for meeting that state-set target. This in turn puts on pressure to sure students graduate. They can't graduate if they don't attend, and many won't attend unless we make 'em. DO THESE LAWS WORK? Critics say that forcing students to attend school is counterproductive, that students who don't want to be there often become disruptive influences. They claim that it's more important for schools to improve the educational experience for students who are disengaged or so far behind their peers that they cannot see a way to catch up. For too many students, the light has gone out, and they see no reason to attend. A system of credits based on seat time, or Carnegie Units, does not lend itself to helping students up for time lost during months or years of adolescent disengagement. Proponents say that raising the compulsory attendance age decreases dropout rates, juvenile crime, and teen pregnancy, while it produces graduates who--because they hold at least a high school diploma--can earn higher wages over the course of their lifetimes. In 1990 the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) published a little-known study that estimated that 25% of potential dropouts remain in school because of compulsory schooling laws. The authors based that estimate on Census Bureau data rather than on state- or school-provided calculations of the dropout rate (or graduation rate). Readers are no doubt familiar with current literature that suggests that state, district, and school calculations lack credibility. Once high-quality student information systems are in place everywhere, we'll have better data. Meanwhile, though NBER's estimates are somewhat dated, such data are at least based on credible measures. RECENT STATE ACTIVITY Every year, a few state legislatures address the issue of compulsory school age. In the 2006 session, Tennessee changed its compulsory attendance age from 7 to 16, to 6 to 17. …

Counting the Truants

Perfect attendance. But for one day of third grade, I would have had perfect attendance from kindergarten through high school graduation. I missed that single day because my parents made me stay home. Getting up and going to school was, for me, an act of self-preservation. I was sure that, if I missed any new material, I would get so far behind that I'd never catch up. It was entirely my choice. Sick or healthy, I was at my desk. While Huckleberry Finn's aversion to attending school falls at one end of the spectrum, and my compulsion falls at the other, most students are somewhere in between. When students don't make a choice that places them somewhere in my vicinity, parents usually help them make it. If parents don't follow through or if they're unsuccessful, the school usually steps in. And if that doesn't work, state law asserts itself. MORE THAN 'BE THERE OR BE SQUARE' Compulsory attendance laws help to ensure both that educational services are provided and that students take advantage of those services. These laws set minimum and maximum ages for school attendance. For example, if in Alabama students must begin to attend school at age 7 and continue attending until the age of 16, the mandatory number of years of education is nine. Twelve states require nine years of education; 18 states require 10; eight states require 11; eight require 12; and four states and the District of Columbia require students to attend school for a total of 13 years. The minimum ages range from 5 to 8 years old, with the highest number of states (24) requiring attendance to begin at age 6. Twenty-eight states require students to attend school until they reach the age of 16; 17 states set 18 as the school-leaving age. Between 1984 and 2005, 14 states raised the upper age limit for compulsory attendance in order to keep students in schools longer. TRUANCY AND HABITUAL TRUANCY If students choose not to attend school, however, at what point are they found to be truant? For many years, most state laws did not specify the number of times a student must be absent without an excuse before legal sanctions are enforced. Over the past decade, though, a growing number of states have begun to explicitly define truancy--or require their districts to define it. And some have even established guidelines for when a student should be designated a truant. In Arizona, for example, truancies are defined as unexcused absences for at least one class period during a school day. Habitually students are those for at least five school days during a school year. To be in California a student has to be absent without a valid excuse for three full days in one school year, or absent without a valid excuse for more than any 30-minute period during a single school day on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof. And such absences must be reported to the attendance supervisor or to the superintendent. A student is deemed to be a habitual truant if he or she has been reported three or more times during a school year and if the attendance officer has made a conscientious effort to hold a conference with a parent or guardian. Whew! That's some serious record-keeping. In Colorado, four unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences during any school year make a student a truant. INCREASING ENFORCEMENT States such as Virginia have attempted to put more teeth into their attendance laws. In 2004, the Virginia legislature removed a restriction on the court's use of contempt power in enforcing compulsory school attendance and parental responsibility. The revised law clarifies and reinforces the court's authority to order the child or the parent or both into programs, such as extended-day programs, summer school, or other educational programs, and into treatment, such as counseling. In October 2005, the state board of education in Louisiana reestablished Truancy Assessment and Service Centers, which had previously targeted low-income families, as a means to identify, assess, and intervene to ensure K-6 students attend school regularly. …

Judicial Activism and the Origins of Parental Choice: The Court's Role in the Institutionalization of Compulsory Education in the United States, 1891–1925

A considerable body of scholarship has examined the history of compulsory attendance in the United States in an effort to explain why compulsory attendance laws were enacted, what effects they had on school attendance rates, and what made enforcement of these laws effective eventually. Recent research has revealed that some long-standing assumptions and conclusions about compulsory attendance warrant reconsideration. For example, the assumptions that educators promoted compulsory attendance and that compulsory attendance laws were enacted when state legislators responded to educators' demands disregard the historical reality that educators and state teachers' associations generally did not support compulsory attendance and that the biggest proponent of compulsory attendance legislation was a faction of the Republican Party. Similarly, the conventional periodization of compulsory attendance laws into two phases—“symbolic” and “bureaucratic”—obscures several facts. The conventional periodization holds that before the 1890s compulsory attendance laws were merely symbolic because the laws enacted were “unenforced and probably unenforceable.” During the bureaucratic phase, between the 1890s and 1920s, new compulsory attendance laws —“strong laws” with teeth—were passed, which finally made compulsory attendance effective. This periodization obscures the facts that (1) compulsory attendance did not develop in any linear or progressive fashion as much as in a “two steps forward, one step back” manner; (2) the state had limited power to enforce even “enforceable” compulsory attendance laws in the early twentieth century when most funding was local not state funding; and (3) compulsory attendance laws were not tremendously effective, accounting for no more than 5 percent of the increase in school attendance in the first half of the twentieth century.

Charting a Third Way in Minority Education: Transformative Community in the Old Order Mennonite Church of Kreider County

It is a mild fall morning. The day is overcast, with thick banks of clouds hanging over fields of deep brown soil littered with the withered parchment stalks of recently harvested corn. The leaves are still on the trees but there is not much color, the result of atypically warm nights. Mountain View School is a plain white clapboard building set in a grassy schoolyard dotted with large shade trees that encloses a rudimentary softball diamond, a seesaw and several swings, and a few hitching posts. It is located in an area of prosperous and productive farms, spread over rolling hills, with views of mountains in the distance. The children have arrived at the school by bicycle, hired van, and horse and buggy. There are two classrooms accommodating children in grades one through four and grades five through eight. Inside the lower-grade classroom it is cheerful, comfortable, and secure. The school was founded in 1968 in response to two amendments to the state's compulsory school attendance law removing the right of Old Order Mennonite parents to determine the number of years of schooling for their children. Although the Old Order Church is in the peace tradition, with a strong ethic of nonresistance, these amendments represented a line in the sand. It was eventually ruled that the Old Order appeal represented a conscientious objection to higher education that was inherent to their religious beliefs. Apart from a requirement to ensure that children are in school through the eighth grade or age 16, the ruling established the right of the church to determine every aspect of its own schooling. Numerous other Old Order Mennonite groups have faced similar struggles for the right to educate their children, most prominently in the case of Wisconsin v. Yoder, which climaxed in a 1972

From Desegregation to Resegregation: Public Schools in Norfolk, Virginia 1954-2002

In 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, Supreme Court declared separate public schools for African American and white students unconstitutional. This essay examines history and evolution of school desegregation in Norfolk, Virginia from 1954 to 2002. by whites in Virginia to school desegregation began almost immediately following 1954 decision. Meanwhile, African Americans, with assistance of NAACP, fought tirelessly and quietly to end school segregation. Real school desegregation was finally achieved in Norfolk through implementation of an intra-district busing program in 1972. Yet, Norfolk would return to segregation, or experience resegregation, after ending of busing policy at elementary school level in 1986 and at middle school level in 2001. The Brown decision did not solve problem of segregation in Norfolk public schools and failed to bring about equal educational opportunities for African Americans in city. Indeed, progress towards that goal was marred by conflict. Moreover, since 1954 context for school desegregation has changed, as have policies and positions of those in charge of Norfolk public schools. What has remained constant, according to Charles Bryant, former president of Norfolk branch of NAACP, is demand for quality education for African American students. (1) Though segregation diminished and educational opportunities for African Americans improved in 1970s, in 1980s little significant progress was made, and situation began to deteriorate. MASSIVE RESISTANCE TO BROWN: 1954-1959 The court ruling in 1954 calling for desegregation of public schools was not received well in Virginia, state, but also a state of mind--a very special state of mind. (2) Virginians were adamant supporters of states' rights and fought hard to maintain racially discriminatory practices, including separate and unequal public schools. In 1954 Governor Thomas B. Stanley declared he would use every legal means at my command to continue segregated schools in (3) However, it was not governor who had most political influence in state of Virginia, but Senator Harry F. Byrd and his powerful Democratic machine. Byrd's belief that Brown decision was illegal and the most serious blow that has been struck against rights of states reflected sentiment of majority of white Virginians. (4) Massive resistance was necessary, it was thought, since Supreme Court was not only wrong, but was also interfering with rights of people of Virginia. Massive resistance in Virginia began in 1954 and continued to end of decade. In September 1954 Governor Stanley appointed legislative commission to examine possible courses of action in response to Supreme Court's decision. The group, known as Gray Commission, was chaired by Senator Garland Gray, Byrd loyalist. The Gray Plan, released in November 1955, sought to preserve segregation, and yet to avoid conflict with Court. (5) The plan called for tuition grants from public funds to aid white students attending private schools to avoid integration, new pupil assignment plan to minimize race mixing, and an amendment to compulsory attendance law so that child would be required to attend an integrated school. Equal educational opportunities for African American students were not addressed. In state-wide referendum held in January 1956, plan was approved by near two to one margin. White leaders interpreted result as clear sign of public's support for maintenance of segregation. President Dwight D. Eisenhower remained noticeably silent about situation in Virginia, following advice of his press secretary James C. Hagerty who suggested that, no comment be made which would be interpreted as either approving or disapproving vote of people of Virginia. …

How Large Are Human-Capital Externalities? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws

Many economists and policymakers believe that education creates positive externalities. Indeed, average schooling in U.S. states is highly correlated with state wage levels, even after controlling for the direct effect of schooling on individual wages. We use variation in child labor laws and compulsory attendance laws over time and across states to investigate whether this relationship is causal. Our results show external returns to education around 1% and not significantly different from zero.

How Large Are The Social Returns To Education? Evidence From Compulsory Schooling Laws

Average schooling in US states is highly correlated with state wage levels, even after controlling for the direct effect of schooling on individual wages. We use an instrumental variables strategy to determine whether this relationship is driven by social returns to education. The instrumentals for average schooling are derived from information on the child labor laws and compulsory attendance laws that affected men in our Census samples, while quarter of birth is used as an instrument for individual schooling. This results in precisely estimated private returns to education of about seven percent, and small social returns, typically less than one percent, that are not significantly different from zero.

How Large Are Human-Capital Externalities? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws

Many economists and policymakers believe that education creates positive externalities. Indeed, average schooling in U.S. states is highly correlated with state wage levels, even after controlling for the direct effect of schooling on individual wages. We use variation in child labor laws and compulsory attendance laws over time and across states to investigate whether this relationship is causal. Our results show external returns to education around 1% and not significantly different from zero.

The Legal History of Special Education

ABSTRACT Children and youth with disabilities have historically received unequal treatment in the public education system. In the early 20th century, the enactment of compulsory attendance laws in the states began to change the educational opportunities for these students. Opportunities for admittance to public schools were greater, but many students nevertheless did not receive an effective or appropriate education. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, parents and advocates for students with disabilities began to use the courts in an attempt to force states to provide an equal educational opportunity for these students. These efforts were very successful and eventually led to the passage of federal legislation to ensure these rights. The purpose of this article is to examine the legal history of special education. We will examine these early efforts to ensure a free appropriate education for students with disabilities up to and including the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997.

The “Special Relationship” Doctrine and School Officials’ Duty to Protect Students from Peer Sexual Harassment

Students who allege to be victims of peer-inflicted sexual harassment have increasingly relied on the “special relationship” doctrine to attempt to hold school officials individually liable under federal constitutional law for failing to protect students from peer harassment. Applied to schools, student plaintiffs generally argue that compulsory attendance laws create a “special relationship” between students and school officials, thereby placing on school officials an affirmative duty to protect students from harassment as a violation of students’ due process rights under the federal constitution. Primarily through the review of case law, this doctrine is examined as it applies to school officials’ duty to protect students from peer sexual harassment. This examination determined that the special relationship claim has been and will likely continue to be an ineffective avenue for students to redress peer sexual harassment claims; however, due to other legal developments briefly mentioned, school officials are advised not to disregard peer harassment claims.

What Has Happened since the Little Red Schoolhouse

Briefly looks at the changes in education since the 1920s which have been necessitated by the changes in society with reference to supervision of instruction, child protection laws, child labour laws, compulsory attendance laws and new educational programmes.

Human Capital Versus Sorting: The Effects of Compulsory Attendance Laws

Under the educational sorting hypothesis a state compulsory school attendance law will increase the educational attainment of high-ability workers who are not directly affected hy the law. Under the human capital hypothesis such laws affect only those individuals whose hehavior is directly constrained. We find that compulsory attendance laws do increase enrollment rates in age groups they do not affect directly. Thus, our results contradict the human capital hypothesis and are consistent with the sorting hypothesis. I. INTRODUCTION The last decade has seen considerable debate between supporters of the human capital and sorting models of education. The former assert that the effect of education on wages reflects increased productivity. The latter maintain that it reflects, at least in part, correlation between education and unobserved ability. Workers use education to signal their ability, while employers use education to screen workers. Despite the importance of the debate, no fully convincing tests of the hypotheses have been developed. In fact, many members of the profession maintain (at least privately) that these hypotheses cannot be tested against each other and that the debate must therefore be relegated to the realm of ideology. In this paper we show that the models can be tested against each other by examining the effects of state compulsory school attendance laws. We show that under the human capital hypotheis, such laws will affect the educational attainment only of those who in the absence of the law would have left school prior to the minimum school leaving age. On the other hand, under the sorting hypothesis the effects of the law will percolate through the system, increasing educational attainment even among workers not directly constrained by the law. Our results are consistent with the predictions of the sorting model.

The Feminization of Public School Teaching

This article presents an explanation for the process of feminization of public school teaching in the United States between 1870 and 1920. Feminization of teaching is seen as generated by economic constraints increased by the formal definition of state school systems through enactment of compulsory attendance laws. Juxtaposed to school system needs to reduce costs were ideological and cultural restraints, rooted in the structure of preindustrial households and religious disestablishment, against the economic independence of women. Through regression and path analysis, the direct and indirect effects of predictors of proportion female in teaching are tested in a state-by-state analysis for 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900.