Discussion of "Academies, charter and free schools: do new school types deliver better outcomes? by Andrew Eyles, Claudia Hupkau and Stephen Machin"

Discussion. In recent decades, reforms of educational systems have been high on the agenda in many developed countries. Increased autonomy of schools from national or local authorities has been a key element of many proposed school reforms. One example is the very recent reform in Italy, ‘La BuonaScuola’. A growing body of empirical studies evaluates the impact of these reforms on a number of relevant outcomes. This interesting and policy relevant paper fits into this literature. Among other things, it provides a careful and far-reaching analysis of the recent school reform in England, which saw the introduction of a new type of schools–the academies.