IP-14-87 (November 1987)
Author: Dr. Richard Kraft

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Summary: How To Bring About Real Education Reform

• The first wave of education reform in the 1980s has been largely superficial.
• To be really effective, the second wave of reform must be structural.
• A system giving parents their choice among public schools would do much to drive substantive reform — without involving private schools and the church state issue.
• Parents need to be fully reinvolved in the education process and play a primary role in determining their children’s education and the character of their schools.
• Site-based decision making for schools provides real accountability.
• A choice system will release the creative energies of educators — and treat them like true professionals.
• While the procedural problems are formidable, the question ought to be: Can we afford not to reform our education system through choice?