Via a cross-national and longitudinal analysis, this study seeks to understand whether and to what extent school textbooks portray children as entities with status and agency. Our core argument is that in a world in which individuals are imagined as central to national progress, the extension of individual personhood and citizenship to children is associated with their increased status and enhanced agency. Using 495 textbooks from 76 countries, we analyse trends from 1970 to 2012 as well as textbook-, country-, and global-level characteristics that explain changes in mentions of children's status and agency. Trends indicate higher average levels of mentions of children's status and agency over time. Findings from multivariate analyses suggest that children are more likely to be portrayed as rights bearers and capable actors in more democratic regimes and in countries more linked to world society. A rights affirming global environment also positively relates to mentions of children.