high performance standards, for example, and well-designed school choice--but also raises considerable doubts about whether … many current school policies are effective in dramatically altering the opportunity structure. The evidence presented also … educational outcomes, human capital policy aimed at disadvantaged students, and private/public school choice. …

School districts have more influence on home buyers’ choices than any other local-government unit, yet hardly anyone … knows why they exist. “Making the Grade” explains the development of American school districts and advances an economic … argument for their continued existence. In the nineteenth century, almost all districts governed a single, one-room school …