This report examines current educational options for U.S. students and the challenges of ensuring that choices are equally available and offer high-quality education. The report suggests what state policymakers can do to create high-quality opportunities that offer each family a system of schools worth choosing. The analysis starts from the assumption that school choice policy is a means to an end and not an end itself. The goals of the education system include improving student learning opportunities, strengthening educational attainment, providing alternatives that fit student needs, and integrating a diverse citizenry, while preparing young people for their civic roles in a democracy. As the authors present information about the range of choices available to families within the public and private sectors, they also indicate where research has found that various approaches influence these desired outcomes of education in a democratic society. Sorting out how to provide students with excellent and equitable educational opportunities--and to ensure that the state has an educated citizenry on which to build an inclusive society and a productive economy--is no small feat in the complex world of education. Ultimately, the challenge is to create a system filled with schools worth choosing in which all students have a genuine right to choose and have access to schools that serve them well. The common welfare is best served when investments in schools enable all young people to become productive, responsible citizens prepared to participate effectively in the political, social, and economic life of their democracy.