Reviewed by: Moira McLaughlin:

In Washington, D.C., about 43 percent of students attend charter schools, and only 25 percent attend their assigned neighborhood schools. Washington parents have choices. What does all this choice mean for public education, local author Sam Chaltain wonders in his new book, “Our School.”

“In this new frontier,” Chaltain asks, “will the wider array of school options help parents and educators identify better strategies for helping all children learn — strategies that can then be shared for the benefit of all schools? Or will the high stakes of the marketplace lead us to guard our best practices, undermine our colleagues, and privatize this most public of institutions?”