Legislated Learning: The Bureaucratization of the American Classroom

When I read this book in college, I was awed by its lucid and holistic analysis of education policy in the United States. It remains, to my knowledge, one of the only education reform books to propose a psychological taxonomy describing the many ways in which education policy-makers blunder. The arguments Weiss makes are extremely important to understanding why legislators and school boards ought not be involved in school governance and why we need a market-based system of education -- school vouchers and charter schools. At the end of the book, Weiss inexplicably rejects these remedies -- flawing an otherwise brilliant exposition. Putting aside the last few chapters, this is one of the finest books ever written about education policy-making in the United States -- one that the author himself, who has since worked for some of the staunchest defenders of the educational status quo, ought to reread often. For anyone confused by educational policy, this is an absolutely must-read. I picked up my copy in a discard pile and I'm sorry this book is currently out of print.