School systems aspire to provide equal opportunity for all, irrespective of socio-economic status (SES). Much of the criticism of recent school reforms that introduce accountability, autonomy, and choice emphasizes their potentially negative consequences for equity. This report provides new evidence on how national features of accountability,…

While there are severe limitations on the availability, comparability, and reliability of education statistics for the United States and other major foreign nations, a comparison of data reveals that the relative ranking of the United States among other nations with respect to educational participation in general is high, but that it is low in…