Background and Context: Grassroots activism is on the rise in American education, leading some scholars to announce the arrival of a "New Politics of Education" in which political elites and grassroots actors clash over foundational questions of policy and power. However, little research has examined just how consequential grassroots…

The opt out movement represents a dramatic public challenge to today's school reform agenda, yet little empirical research has examined the political impact of this parent activism on local school communities. To address this gap, this paper uses survey, interview, and document-based data to explore the political impact of opt out activism in four…

There is ongoing debate in the United States about just how diverse, inclusive, and equitable the opt-out movement--and grassroots education activism more broadly--has been over the past decade. Today, a prevailing stereotype holds that the opt-out movement predominantly mobilizes white, middle-class, and suburban parents and is therefore a force…