R. Kenneth Godwin and Frank R. Kemerer
2002
This valuable new book by R. Kenneth Godwin and Frank R. Kemerer is, in Terry Moe's jacket-blurb account, "probably the best overview and appraisal of the school choice issue yet written." It's about the tradeoffs that inevitably get made when education policymakers seek to balance the rival values of freedom, equity, efficiency, accountability, student achievement and school diversity. In the background is admirably clear thinking about education within the framework of liberal democracy. The book ends with a chapter setting forth the authors' own version of a balanced school choice policy, a carefully structured voucher plan that contains many safeguards for needy students. Especially refreshing is that the authors don't simply promulgate and argue for a specific plan; they also explain their reasoning in reaching their own policy conclusions on some of the stickier issues needing to be resolved. They also explain why they do not believe that an all-charter system would go far enough, chiefly because it doesn't provide schools with sufficient autonomy. Whether you like their own formulation or not, you will benefit from their closely reasoned exposition of issues and trade-offs. 315 pages long, this fine tome is published by the University of Texas Press. The ISBN is 0292728425. You can get more information from http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/godsch.html. - Chester E. Finn, Jr.