Book excerpt: Contents include: •Test-Based Accountability: The Promise and the Perils Tom Loveless (Brookings) • Can the Federal Government Improve Education Research? Brian Jacob (Harvard University) and Jens Ludwig (Georgetown University ) •Realizing the Promise of Brand-Name Schools Steven F.Wilson (Harvard University) • School Choice: How an Abstract Idea Became a Political Reality Joseph P. Viteritti (Hunter College, CUNY) • Education Reform and Content: The Long View E.D. Hirsch Jr. (Core Knowledge Foundation) • Evidence-Based Reading Policy in the United States: How Scientific Research Informs Instructional Practices Reid Lyon and Vinita Chhabra (National Institutes of Health) and Sally E. Shaywitz and Bennett A. Shaywitz (Yale University)