Judicial Activism and the Origins of Parental Choice: The Court's Role in the Institutionalization of Compulsory Education in the United States, 1891–1925

1. Stephen Provasnik

Article first published online: 9 OCT 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-5959.2006.00001.x

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1. Stephen Provasnik completed this essay while working as a senior research analyst at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). His research interests include the institutional development of school systems and the modern state, the rise of universal education, and the development of indicators of educational quality. An earlier version of this paper was read at the History of Education Society's Annual Meeting 2000 in San Antonio, Texas. He would like to give special thanks to the law library staff at the University of Chicago, DePaul University, and the Library of Congress, as well as to Bill Novak, Carl Kaestle, Kathy Frydl, Richard J. Cardamone, Corrine Calfee, and The History of Education Quarterly's three anonymous readers for their suggestions and ideas as this essay developed. Email: sprovasnik@almuni.bates.edu.