Choice and Competition in American Education

Local school boards have traditionally assigned the school that a child is to attend. Only by selecting their neighborhoods have parents exercised their choice of school. In recent years, this tradition has slowly given way to magnet schools, inter-district choice programs, charter schools, voucher programs, and many other forms of choice, creating a new environment for school decision making. At the same time, market concepts are under consideration for the recruitment and compensation of teachers and principals. As a result, the world of education is becoming more competitive. In a group of essays originally published in Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research, this book examines the likely promise and pitfalls of these changes in American education. Overall, these essays paint the picture of an education landscape that will be greatly shaped by choice and competition in the 21st century.