Christopher T. Cross, Teachers College Press
December 2003
Veteran Washington education operative Christopher T. Cross authored, and Teachers College Press published, this 190-page chronicle of federal education policy making from Truman to George W. Bush. (Paul Manna wrote the NCLB chapter.) It's a workmanlike, clearly written, and generally balanced account of the past - one that would be useful for anyone wondering how the present Rube Goldberg policy structure came to be built - and a satisfactory primer for an introductory education-policy course. Cross's account of the Education Department's creation is helpful and accurate and his mini-portraits of the tenures of several Education Secretaries are perceptive and fair. The book's shortcomings are its que sera, sera view of the current state of federal education policy and its unimaginative extrapolation of present into future. In other words, your $25 investment (the paperback price) won't leave you bowled over by the courage or incisiveness of its recommendations and prognostications, nor will you find here a penetrating critique of Washington's role in education in 2004. But you will come away with enhanced understanding of what got us where we are today. The ISBN is 0807743976 and you can find additional information at http://store.tcpress.com/0807743976.shtml.
