This book examines the likely promise and pitfalls of many of the most controversial forms of school choice as well as the introduction of greater competition into the recruitment and compensation of teachers and principals. In a group of essays originally published in Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research, these essays paint the picture of an education landscape that will be greatly shaped by choice and competition in the 21st century.

Chapter 1 The Private Can Be Public Chapter 2 The Costs of Privatization Chapter 3 Regulations Do More Harm than Good Chapter 4 In Defense of Regulation Chapter 5 We Need New Types of Administrators Chapter 6 New Leaders: Will Public Schools Hire Them? Chapter 7 Fringe Benefits: AFT and NEA Teacher Salary Surveys Chapter 8 Low Pay, Low Quality Chapter 9 he Case for Merit Pay Chapter 10 Wage Compression and the Decline in Teacher Quality Chapter 11 A Union by Any Other Name Chapter 12 Reform Unionism Is Here Chapter 13 Charter Schools: Mom and Pops or Corporate Design Chapter 14 Charter-School Politics Chapter 15 A School Built for Horace: Tales from a Start-up Charter School Chapter 16 The Impact of Vouchers on Student Performance Chapter 17 Do Vouchers and Charters Push Public Schools to Improve? Chapter 18 School Choice and Social Cohesion Chapter 19 How Vouchers Came to D. C. Chapter 20 Contracting Out: The Story behind Philadelphia's Edison Contract Chapter 21 Home Schooling: The Nation's Fastest-growing Education Sector Chapter 22 School Choice in No Child Left Behind Chapter 23 Selling Supplemental Services