School desegregation efforts often spark fierce political backlash. This dissent is typically ascribed to families' dissatisfaction with the changes in schooling assignments required to achieve desegregation aims. In this paper we use the empirical context of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) to estimate the effect of diversity-driven…

The U.S. Constitution is the most well-known governing document in the country--studied by students, endlessly interpreted and reinterpreted by judges and political pundits, and placed in the category of near-religious reverence by many Americans. In the last 50 years it has been amended exactly once, in a ratification process that took over 200…

Over the past decade, the students of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, the largest historically Black public university in the country, were forced into the spotlight of a national fight over voting rights that has been profoundly reshaping our democracy. During the 2018 midterm elections,…

While U.S. voters delivered a significant change in the 2024 federal elections, they opted for steady leadership at the state level. No state board of education shifted in partisan control, and only five seats saw a shift in political party out of 27 races that were contested in the general election. This policy update looks at the results of…

Building on a growing literature showing that early college high schools substantially improve educational outcomes, we investigate possible spillover impacts of this intervention on civic outcomes in North Carolina, which houses an early college in most of its counties. We present both lottery and observational impacts on voting and criminal…

"The Status of Women in North Carolina: Political Participation" is the third in a series of four publications on women's status in North Carolina. This report presents data on several aspects of women's involvement in the political process in the North Carolina, comparing North Carolina to other states and the United States overall. The…

Higher levels of civic and community engagement in higher education are positively associated with students' academic performance and they also build upon citizenship skills such as informed voting. Yet, while these are worthy and important outcomes of higher education, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can have more difficulty navigating…

On the night of Feb. 8, 1960, J. Charles Jones, then a student of religion and psychology at Johnson C. Smith University, knew instinctively what it was he needed to do for his generation. He first met with a handful of other classmates and friends, letting them know what he had just learned on the radio--other Black students in neighboring…

It has long been thought that the United States education system is the great equalizer, lifting less advantaged children out of poverty and improving their chances for success in adulthood. The opportunity for economic and social mobility depends heavily, however, on access to high quality education. Recent research has raised concerns about…

Studies regularly link levels of educational attainment to civic behavior and attitudes, but only a few investigate the role played by specific coursework. Using data collected from students who attended one of four public universities in our study, we investigate the relationship between economics coursework and civic behavior after graduation.…

Obamamania has swept across college campuses. Students, it seems, are out campaigning, registering people to vote, singing the Democrat's praises far and wide. This article reports that a new poll of college students in four battleground states--Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania--conducted by CBS News, UWIRE, and "The…

In the postbellum southern U.S., African Americans were steadily disenfranchised, a modern publicly financed universal school system with racially segregated schools was created, and public school monies were allocated so that white pupils received substantially more than black pupils. An earlier paper (Ng and Halcoussis 2003) established a…

The 1984 campaign between Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat Jim Hunt of North Carolina was one of the most expensive campaigns in history. The Helms campaign spent an estimated $15.6 million and Hunt is believed to have raised $9.8 million. Both sides relied heavily on television advertising. A study was conducted to measure the link between…

This materials packet contains information on teaching about the electoral process and the elections of 1988, and on participation in a mock election for students whose schools would take part in the 1988 North Carolina Mock Election. Suggestions for teachers' preparations are given, including a classroom skit and a mock candidates' election…

This North Carolina project utilizes computer technology to engage students in activities that encourage them to become well-informed voters. The activities are organized into four separate modules. The first module contains student activities designed specifically for the 1992 Presidential election. These activities include: media research,…