This course focuses on recent trends in public school governance and educational reform. After building a foundation in the concepts of school governance and public choice, the seminar explores several important trends affecting public school attempts to improve performance and accountability to parents and other taxpayers. Thematically, community and parental participation and school choice tie the elements of the course together. We explore a range of concepts advocated and implemented by politicians, education administrators, parents, community groups, and education analysts and attempt to discern the effectiveness of such programs for a wide variety of jurisdictions with different needs, constituencies, and demographic profiles.