How No Child Left Behind encourages more affluent parents to flee poorly performing schools.

For a democracy to function properly, its citizens need to be informed. In order to raise how informed people are and to increase democratic accountability, the US has implemented performance accountability measures for public and private goods and services. In new research, John B. Holbein examines the effects of the No Child Left Behind policy, which gives citizens information about school performance. He finds that when schools fail not only does voter turnout in school board elections increase, but the number of parents – especially the affluent – exiting increases.