Much educational research today is focused on assessing reforms that are                  intended to create equal opportunity for all students. Many current policies aim at                  concentrating extra resources on the disadvantaged. The state-of-the-art research in                  Schools and the Equal Opportunity Problem suggests, however, that even sizeable                  differential spending on the disadvantaged will not yield an equality of results. In                  this CESifo volume, leading scholars from the United States and Europe use the tools                  of economics to assess the outcome of efforts to solve education's equal opportunity                  problem in a range of countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany,                  Sweden, and Italy.The evidence shows some routes for advancement--testing with 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 calls                  into question the idea that causal peer effects are very strong. The contributors                  examine such topics as the link between education and parental income, the                  problematic past research on peer effects, tracking, the distribution of educational                  outcomes, human capital policy aimed at disadvantaged students, and private/public                  school choice.The research suggests that achieving universal primary and secondary                  education is both urgently needed and feasible. Will the international community                  commit the necessary economic, human, and political resources? The challenge, say                  the editors, is "as inspiring and formidable... as any extraterrestrial                  adventures--and far more likely to enrich and improve life on earth."

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