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Teachers in Oklahoma, Arizona, and Kentucky are holding walkouts and protests in recent days calling for higher pay. This wave of teacher-led protests around the nation was sparked earlier this month when teachers in West Virginia emerged victorious from a nearly two-week strike.
As we've seen in recent years, protests are becoming a more and more prominent part of our culture here in the US, from recent student marches protesting gun violence, to marches for women's rights, to NFL players taking a knee.
But how effective are protests at actually changing public policy?
Last September, Craig Cohen asked Leandra Zarnow, a history professor at the University of Houston, how to evaluate a protest's effectiveness.
- Houston activists descended on City Hall to denounce the violence in Charlottesville, Va. at a rally on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty | Houston Public Media)
- White Lives Matter protesters confront Smash Fascism Austin counter-protesters during the unveiling of the Texas African-American History Memorial on Capitol grounds last November. (Photo Credit: Gabriel Cristóver Pérez/KUT News)
- Players from the New England Patriots kneel in protest during the national anthem prior to their game against the Houston Texans on Sunday, Sept. 24. (Photo Credit: Michael Dwyer/AP )
- People receive first aid after a car ran into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday Aug. 12, 2017. The car struck the silver vehicle pictured, sending marchers into the air (Photo Credit: Getty Images via NPR)
- Counter-protesters respond to the "anti-sharia" rally in Seattle on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP)
- Protesters gather outside the federal court house, Monday, July 10, 2017, in San Antonio, where a redistricting trial is taking place. Federal courts earlier this year found that Texas passed election laws to purposefully discriminate against Hispanic and black voters and the trial starting today could redraw Texas voting maps before 2018 and bolster Democratic efforts to reclaim Congress. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (Photo Credit: AP)
- Protesters dressed as characters from "The Handmaid's Tale" chant in the Texas Capitol Rotunda under portraits of former Texas governors George W. Bush and Rick Perry in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, July 18, 2017. State lawmakers begin a special legislative session Republican Gov. Greg Abbott felt compelled to call in order to tackle conservative priorities that stalled previously, chief among them a "bathroom bill" targeting transgender people. (Photo Credit: Eric Gay, Associated Press)
- An injured police officer is attended by fellow officers during skirmishes with demonstrators on the first day of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, Friday, July 7, 2017. The leaders of the group of 20 meet July 7 and 8. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) (Photo Credit: AP)
- Stephanie Odam of Austin marches in a campus carry protest in Austin, Jan 8, 2015. (Photo Credit: Bob Daemmrich)
- Police officers detain demonstrators during a protest against the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2017. The leaders of the group of 20 meet July 7 and 8. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) (Photo Credit: AP)
- Paramedics carry a person during a protest against the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, Thursday, July 6, 2017. The leaders of the group of 20 meet July 7 and 8. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) (Photo Credit: AP)
- Indigenous Venezuelans gathered in Puerto Ayacucho on June 13, 2017 to protest against Maduro and the new constitution (Photo Credit: Thomas Van Linge/@arabthomness on Twitter)
