Between Politics and Science: Assuring the Integrity and Productivity of Research

Abstract

School choice is currently the most hotly debated educational policy in the United States. Nearly every state has adopted some sort of school choice provision (open enrollment, charter schools, or vouchers), and yet the academic community is still uncertain whether school choice succeeds in improving schools or whether it is merely another in a long series of educational reforms. When Schools Compete: A Cautionary Tale by Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske and Policy Entrepreneurs and School Choice by Michael Mintrom are two fresh contributions to the debate about school choice. While Mintrom defines and examines the role that policy entrepreneurs have played in enacting school choice, Ladd and Fiske analyze the successes and failures of New Zealand's overarching school choice reform, The Tomorrow Schools.