Historical Reflections on School Choice

• In Event: Assessing School Choice Politics and Policy Through Historical, Sociological, and Philosophical Frameworks

Abstract

What can several centuries of US history tell us about school choice today? This paper, based on the recent book “Making Up Our Minds: What School Choice is Really About,” explores three different eras so as to illuminate some trade-offs and tensions that persist in the current policy debate. The historical analysis builds from on an extensive review of the secondary historical literature, supplemented with some original research on the post-WWII era.

Author

• Michael C. Johanek, University of Pennsylvania