Fresh from Canada, this compact package of ten papers, edited by the Fraser Institute's Claudia R. Hepburn, looks at whether and how competition-based reforms could benefit the Canadian education system. More than a few of its lessons also apply to-indeed, many were derived from research performed in-the United States. The compilation is partly the result of a spring 2000 Fraser Institute conference on school choice. South-of-the-border contributors include our own Checker Finn, with "Reinventing Public Education via the Marketplace" (based on the keynote address he gave at the conference); economist Caroline Hoxby, contributing an eye-opening essay called "Analyzing School Choice Reforms that Use America's Traditional Forms of Parental Choice"; and Jay Greene, providing "A Survey of Results from Voucher Experiments: Where We Are and What We Know," which dispels many common misconceptions about voucher research. From the Canadian side, William Robson offers "Publicly Funded Education in Ontario: Breaking the Deadlock, " which explains why that province could use an infusion of parent-empowering reform, especially to reduce its stubborn achievement gap between poor and wealthy youngsters. The University of Calgary's Lynn Bosetti shares "The Alberta Charter School Experience." (Alberta was the first province in Canada to enact a charter law which, though limited to just a handful of schools, is already revealing benefits for students.) A print version of Can the Market Save Our Schools? will be available in July and can be purchased by contacting [email protected] or by calling (604) 688-0221, ext.580 or (800) 665-3558, ext. 580. Or you can download all of the papers from the Fraser Institute's website by surfing to http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/publications/books/market_schools/index.html
