David N. Plank and Gary Sykes, editors, Teachers College Press
April 2003
This book attempts to shed some light on school choice in America through nine chapters that examine the education systems of a range of countries, each with a form of choice. It describes Chile's national voucher plan, Australia's state-funded private schools, and New Zealand's public school choice system, as well as examples from England, Sweden, South Africa, China, and Central Europe. Each country has a unique and interesting story to tell, but, not surprisingly, none offers a magic prescription for the United States. Every land still has problems to solve and, as is commonly the case, it is difficult to determine whether the successes and failures in each are attributable to choice or to other factors at work. Still, the pitfalls illustrated in the book are certainly worth understanding so that these same mistakes can be avoided in the U.S. The preface also provides interesting ideological, economic, political and social explanations for the ubiquity of the trend toward increased school choice. Unfortunately, this wisdom will cost you $45; to buy a copy, visit http://store.tcpress.com/0807742910.shtml.
