How has No Child Left Behind (NCLB) impacted schools, parents, and communities?  Though NCLB has been heavily researched, most work has focused on the law's impacts on student test scores.  In contrast, this paper examines the impact of NCLB's school-based sanctions on community and parental participation.  I estimate the impact of a proximate failing school on voter turnout in the subsequent school board election. 

My regression discontinuity estimates indicate that marginally failing schools in North Carolina see voter turnout 2.5% points higher than marginally passing schools.  Though the effect size seems small, it is entirely consistent with previous research; mirroring the size of other get out the vote initiatives (phone, mail, and internet solicitations).  In addition, the overall effect size masks substantial variation across party identification, race, age, and electoral context.  The upper bound estimates indicate that the performance of a proximate school matters more than the go-to mobilization tactic: face-to-face contact.  In short, sanctions mobilize communities around failing schools.

Overall, No Child Left Behind's sanction system has had positive unintended consequences.  Unfortunately, the story is not completely positive.  Mobilization effects are concentrated in the first failing year, diminish over time, and become negative in some instances.  In short, sanctions cannot mobilize repeatedly.  Perpetually failing schools may experience reinforcing patterns of depressed community involvement. 

Either way, the results are clear; there are significant policy feedback effects within NCLB.  These results build on an expanding literature involving the political economy of Education. Taken as a whole, my research indicates that education policy substantially influences the behavior of parents and communities.  These findings have important implications for test-based accountability and parental involvement policies.