Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society. By Joseph P. Viteritti. Washington, DC: Brookings, 1999. 284p. $29.95.

Abstract

The contours of the school choice debate are by now familiar to public policy students, but a lack of agreement about the appropriate weights to be given to the variables affecting the subject continues to splinter their ranks. On the surface, there appears to be a consensus that the latest scores on standardized tests will resolve the uncertainty as to which type of education, public or private, is most effective, but a dip into the literature quickly dispels any such hope. The only thing clear is that nonpublic schools, even with one financial hand tied behind them, do not perform any more poorly than public ones. Consequently, Viteritti wisely gives short shrift to the byzantine methodological distinctions made by re- searchers and, instead, focuses on the normative questions.