In the face of ideologically driven inquiry and advocacy, debates about school choice and public-private-partnerships in education have produced more "light than heat." Although scholars have recently emphasized the need for a greater focus on the particulars of policy design, limitations of existing frameworks have inhibited rigorous policy research capable of enhancing understanding of the effects of different policy designs, particularly when considering cross-national and comparative experiences. This article critically analyzes a set of prominent frameworks from the field before proposing a new Framework for Comparative Educational Pluralism that could inform a more design-sensitive and evidence-rooted approach to policy analysis and design pertaining to the role of non-state actors in education systems.