Description: This book, jointly authored by two distinguished philosophers and two prominent social scientists, has an ambitious aim: to improve decision-making in education policy. First they dive into the goals of education policy and explain the terms "educational goods" and "childhood goods," adding precision and clarity to the discussion of the distributive values that are essential for good decision-making about education. Then they provide a framework for individual decision-makers that enables them to combine values and evidence in the evaluation of educational policy options. Finally they delve into the particular policy issues of school finance, school accountability, and school choice, and they show how decision makers might approach them in the light of this decision-making framework. The authors are not advocated particular policy choices, however. The focus instead is a smart framework that will make it easier for policymakers (and readers) to identify and think through what they disagree with others about.
Brief description: Harry Brighouse is professor of philosophy, affiliate professor of educational policy studies, and Dickson Bascom Professor of the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Review Quotes: "An ambitious effort that succeeds in providing a fundamentally new way to talk about and, by dint of that, think about policy choices in education. The high quality and intellectually diverse team of authors work hard to make what could be dense and complex points as clearly as possible."--Jeffrey R. Henig, Teachers College, Columbia University