Preparing young people for the rights and responsibilities of citizenship is cited as a fundamental purpose of public education, yet little is known about whether or how K-12 schools impact civic engagement. Using education records, birth records, and national voting records for nine cohorts of ninth-grade students in Indiana, I estimate and assess the validity of high school effects on adult voting. I find that schools have meaningful and significant effects on voting. School effects on test scores and collegegoing behavior are positively related to adult voting. Civic school effects are positively related to participation/performance on some civics-related AP exams.
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/04mk-qe46
