Government Institutions, Community and Citizen Participation: Can School Choice Build A Foundation for Cooperative Behavior?

这项建议的重点是学校作为一个舞台，在那里家长和学生可以发展合作行为所必需的规范和期望。这项研究特别注意通过实行择校制度，特别是特许学校，对学校进行重组，在多大程度上影响了这种态度。研究人员认为，通过分析一项重要的政府服务（在这种情况下是学校教育）的组织方式的变化，然后将这种制度变化与父母对彼此和对教师的态度联系起来，研究可以解决两个基本问题：* 政府机构能否建立人际信任的基础， 政策进程中的合作和参与？*而且，如果答案是肯定的，这种影响是特定领域的，仅限于学校，还是更普遍的影响，波及到其他更广泛的领域的态度和行为？这项研究将扩展现有的两波小组研究，增加两波对华盛顿特区特许学校或传统公立学校的家长的采访。随着两波浪潮的增加，研究人员将拥有一个数据集，可用于评估特许学校对家长和学生的附加值。更具体地说，这项研究将能够解决一系列基本问题：* 学校内部利益相关者之间的一些关系是否需要时间才能形成？*在学校内部观察到的模式转化为其他政策领域或一般政治需要时间吗？观察到的一些模式是否是短暂的，是加入一个新学校的非霍桑效应？此外，该研究还将研究选择如何改变学生的角色，使他们在教育计划的设计和学校的运作中更加重要。研究人员认为，通过建立更强大的学校社区，可以改变学生之间的关系，学生和家长之间的关系，以及学生和教师和管理人员之间的关系。该研究将在特许学校和DC公立学校的7-12年级学生中启动一个新的小组，比较他们与学校，教师和其他教育参与者的关系。这项研究将观察特许学校的经历是否会影响他们在学校和更大的社区中的行为。这项研究是关于学校改革的辩论的核心，这是大多数州和联邦政府政策议程上的一个重要项目。此外，这项工作是关于政府机构之间关系的更大辩论的组成部分，创造强大的社区和更好的公民，以及政府在培育社会资本中的作用。

This proposal focuses on schools as arenas in which parents and students can develop the norms and expectations essential for cooperative behavior. The research pays particular attention to the extent to which reorganizing schools through the introduction of school choice, specifically charter schools, affects such attitudes. The researchers argue that by analyzing how a change in the way an important government service, in this case schooling, is organized and then linking this institutional change to the attitudes parents hold toward each other and toward teachers the research can address two fundamental questions:* Can government institutions build the foundation for interpersonal trust, cooperation and participation in the policy process?* And, if the answer is yes, is this effect domain specific, limited to the schools, or are the effects more general, spilling over into attitudes and behavior in other, broader, domains?The research will expand an existing two wave panel study, by adding two more waves of interviews of parents with children in either charter schools or traditional public schools in Washington DC. With the addition of two more waves, the researchers will have a data set that can be used to assess the value added of charter schools to parents and students. More specifically, the research will be able to address a set of fundamental questions: *Do some relationships among stakeholders within the schools take time to emerge?* Does it take time for patterns observed within the schools to translate into other policy domains or politics in general?* Are some of the patterns observed transient a irHawthorne-like effect of joining a new school?In addition, the research will also study how choice changes the role of students, making them more central in the design of education programs and in the functioning of the schools. The researchers argue that by building stronger school communities can change the relationship among students themselves, between students and parents, and between students and teachers and administrators. The research will launch a new panel of students in grades 7-12 in charter schools and in DC public schools, comparing how they relate to their schools, their teachers, and other participants in their education. And the research will see if the charter school experience affects their behavior in school and in their larger community.The research is central to the debate over school reform, an item that is high on the policy agenda of most states and the federal government. In addition, the work is integral to the larger debate about the relationship between government institutions, the creation of strong communitiesand better citizens, and the role of government in nurturing social capital.