“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

"This strong team of philosophers and social scientists chart a path toward improvement in education policy that falls between the too-narrow bean counting of  “No Child Left Behind” and its ilk, and the inspiring but often too-vague-to-be-useful rhetoric of ideals. The authors strive both to establish a general frame for such inquiry and to make a start on showing their own approach to filling in the details. A work that is imaginative, informative, and unfailingly constructive."

Michael S. McPherson, co-author of Lesson Plan: An Agenda for Change in American Higher Education

“Effective decision-making—whether educational or otherwise—requires not just weighing the evidence but also determining which evidence to privilege. This in turn requires making value judgments. This gifted team brings together insights from philosophy, political science, economics, public policy, and education to propose a framework for combining values and evidence for improved decision-making. Every education decision-maker—and every education researcher—would benefit from reading this book.”

David N. Figlio, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University