This book shows that the faith in educational markets is misplaced. Throughout the English speaking world and now Western Europe and parts of East Asia parental choice and educational markets are being seen by politicians and policy advisors as the panacea to problems of low educational standards and social exclusion. This book is the first to systematically test the key assumptions underlying the faith in markets by linking an analysis of parental choice to flows of students between schools and their impact on school effectiveness. The results of this study suggest that the ability to realize choices is dependent on social class, gender and ethnicity and that this can have a negative impact on some schools' performance. Rather than raising standards the impact of markets is to polarise them, leading to an impoverished education for many students.This important book will be vital reading for students of educational policy, sociology of education and school effectiveness and improvement, educational researchers, academics and policymakers.