... to the United States and NCLB, although those cases are particularly important in North America and in evaluation‐based research. Practical implications The paper shows how a policy designer can be limited both by political initiatives and his or her own conceptual grounding. Originality/value...

... of the discussion is the political context, on the assumption that this is the right context for questions concerning the worthwhileness, values in and quality of education. The authors hope that this dialogue illustrates the irenic mode of communication briefly discussed in the paper. It is even more...