Controversial claims are being debated about school choice and the application of market dynamics to education. But the polemics have far out-paced hard evidence regarding who participates in school choice experiments and what effects are felt by parents, children and schools. This work reports the latest empirical results on choice programmes nationwide. Who benefits and who loses under these programmes? Do innovative forms of schooling flourish? Does student achievement improve? These are the questions addressed by contributors to this book.

This in-depth chronicle of 110 families in Washington, DC's Opportunity Scholarship Program provides a realistic look at how urban families experience the process of using school choice vouchers and transform from government clients to consumers of education and active citizens.

The U.S. education system is not meeting the needs of all our children, especially those who are economically disadvantaged. For too many families, income level and ZIP code determine the quality of education available to their children. The need to give all children access to a good education, a chance for a better future, has never been greater. Launched in 1998 by philanthropists Ted Forstmann and John Walton, the Children’s Scholarship Fund has offered thousands of low-income children across the country the chance to attend private school, children who would have otherwise never experienced the benefits of aprivate education. In Opportunity and Hope, prominent journalist Naomi Schaefer Riley chronicles the lives of 10 scholarship alumni who—because of the educational opportunities afforded them—were able to turn less than perfect childhood circumstances into successful lives and careers. The stories of these children, representative of thousands of others and their families, are nothing less than inspirational. They are proof that all any of America’s children need to achieve their dreams is a chance, and someone to believe in them. They are also a testament to the power of private schools, including many inner-city faith-based schools, and they are evidence that given the chance for the right kind of education, anyone can achieve the American dream.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)