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In April 2014, a DFID-commissioned report, The role and impact of private schools in developing countries (henceforth the ‘Rigorous Review’) was published, aimed at exploring controversies surrounding (low-cost) private schools. The overriding research question of this project was ‘Can private schools improve education for children in developing countries?’The Rigorous Review selected 59 studies from a much larger sample according to quality and other criteria. It explored three ‘thematic fields of analysis’, Supply, Demand and Enabling Environment. These were further analysed under eight Hypotheses and 17 Assumptions, the propositions against which research evidence was tested. Of the 12 Assumptions at the heart of the debate, the Rigorous Review found that in most of these (seven) the evidence was positively in favour of private schools (Table 1). From this, it arrived at, at best, lukewarm conclusions about private schools, suggesting that the evidence was positive regarding their quality and cost-effectiveness, but negative or ambiguous concerning equity, affordability and financial