Implications and Prospects of Reforming the Market for Secondary Education in the U.S.

The purpose of this paper is to address the complex issue of public school reform. I will focus primarily on the rather generic concept of school choice, which will inevitably be defined and redefined, throughout my analysis. In doing this, I will first examine the structure and composition of the market for education in America. I will then briefly look at some theoretical approaches to educational reform. Lastly, I will examine specific reform proposals that draw on some of the many varying concepts of choice as well as currently enacted projects that have a form of choice as their focus. My analysis will focus on the likely effects of these proposals on the main actors in the educational system- students, teachers, and government bureaucrats