Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS)
Category: Teacher and Leader Development
This study examines whether the 1982 Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision increased school participation among Latino K–12 students likely to be undocumented in Texas. The analysis asks whether removing tuition and enrollment barriers changed participation patterns relative to comparable states without similar exclusionary statutes. To address limitations in citizenship measurement in schools, we employ a dual-dataset strategy that triangulates district-level enrollment data from the Civil Rights Data Collection with individual-level demographic and school attendance data from the American Community Survey. Using quasi-experimental comparisons across states and age cohorts most likely affected by the decision, we find that Latino student participation increased in Texas following Plyler, with gains concentrated among age groups eligible for protection and broadly shared across gender, with suggestive evidence of larger effects among lower-income students. The study contributes suggestive evidence, from proxy-based quasi-experimental analyses, consistent with legal access to schooling shaping participation, informing current debates over immigrant educational rights and their broader social and economic returns.
Keywords
Latinos, undocumented immigrant students; K-12 education access; difference-indifferences
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/vpjb-dg86
