Education Strategies for Success. Cross & Joftus provides expert advice and assistance to education leaders in governments, foundations, corporations, think tanks, school districts, and advocacy organizations. Our tailored support enhances education reforms by helping clients develop effective policies, evaluate programs, plan strategically, and use best practices. READ MORE ABOUT CROSS & JOFTUS

Building Success: A Systems Approach to Serving Students with Disabilities

C&J recently held a webinar about our special education work with states, charter management organizations, districts, and schools. Review the webinar presentation and learn more.

C&J's work with SIG recipient Southeast High in Kansas featured in EdWeek

This article describes the exciting progress of SIG recipients such as Southeast High School in Cherokee, KS -- one of 43 Kansas schools partnered with a Cross & Joftus implementation coach -- as well as concerns about sustainability as school funding remains uncertain across the country due to the economic downturn. Read more

Cross & Joftus Special Education Webinar - April 26th

C&J will hold a webinar entitled "Building Success: A Systems Approach to Serving Students with Disabilities" about our special education work with states, charter management organizations, districts, and schools on April 26 at 2 pm EDT. Learn more and register here

Monica Santana Rosen joins Cross & Joftus as fourth partner

As we celebrate our eighth anniversary, we are thrilled to announce that Monica Santana Rosen will be joining Chris, Scott, and Sharon as a partner in the firm. Monica will lead our growing human capital management practice. Read more about the C&J team

C&J's Christopher Cross corrects the record on Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

In a Letter to the Editor published in the Washington Post on March 16th, Cross responded to George Will's op-ed "Obama's disdain for law" and argued that the CCSS are a state-driven effort, not a power grab by the Education Department. Read More

Christopher Cross speaks about the future of education

C&J Chairman Christopher Cross was part of a panel discussion February 8, 2012 at Teachers College, Columbia University, on "The Future of Education Policy: The 2012 Election and Beyond." The event celebrated the creation of the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis at TC. See a video of the panel

Cross & Joftus to help Smithsonian better support educators

The Smithsonian Institution's Center for Education and Museum Studies has awarded Cross & Joftus a contract to design, develop and manage an evaluation to better understand the needs and behaviors of educators utilizing digital museum content.. Learn more

Evaluation shows that Kansas Learning Network (KLN) is contributing to an increase in student achievement

Two recent evaluations found that on average, students in KLN districts and schools consistently increased achievement scores on state reading and math assessments at a faster pace than students in non-KLN districts.

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FOCUS AREAS

I for one think that Cross & Joftus has saved some Kansas schools through the Kansas Learning Network (KLN). The KLN plan is one that any school district (rural or urban) can successfully use as their school turnaround model.

Sally Cauble, Kansas State Board of Education, District 5

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Christopher T. Cross

Christopher T. Cross is chairman of the education policy consulting firm Cross & Joftus, where he contributes his considerable strategic planning, policy analysis, and development skills. Cross also serves as a consultant to the Broad Foundation. Previously, he was a senior fellow with the Center for Education Policy and a distinguished senior fellow with the Education Commission of the States.

From 1994 to 2002, Cross was president and chief executive officer of the Council for Basic Education (CBE). Before joining CBE, he served as director of the education initiative of The Business Roundtable and as assistant secretary for educational research and improvement in the U.S. Department of Education.

He chaired the National Assessment of Title I Independent Review Panel on Evaluation for the U.S. Department of Education from 1995 to 2001 and the National Research Council Panel on Minority Representation in Special Education from 1997 to 2002. Cross also chaired the National Research Council panel on Early Childhood Mathematics. He serves on the board of The New Teacher Project, is a member of the board of the Center on the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Academies my of Sciences and a commissioner of the senior division of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In March 2002, Cross guided the negotiated rule-making process on Title I for the U.S. Department of Education.

In 2001, he completed a six-year term on the Board of International Comparative Studies in Education for the National Research Council. In addition, he chaired the National Council for Education and Humanities Development of The George Washington University from its inception in 2000 through 2002. Cross served as president of the Maryland State Board of Education from 1994 to 1997 and was a member from 1993 to 1997. He also was a member of the National Education Commission on Time and Learning.

Cross has written extensively on education and other public policy areas and has been published in numerous professional journals and newspapers, including Education Week, Phi Delta Kappan, The College Board Review, The Washington Post, the Sacramento Bee, and the Los Angeles Times. He co-authored an article, "Systems, not Superheroes," published in the winter 2008 edition of the American Association of School Administrators' Journal of Scholarship and Practice.

His book, Political Education: National Policy Comes of Age, is on the people and events shaping federal K-12 education policy from the time of the Eisenhower Administration through the passage of the 2001 amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It was published in November 2003 by Teachers College Press. Cross is also the co-editor of Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education, published in 2002 by National Academies Press. He has lectured on American education issues in Japan, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates.

Cross has a bachelor of arts degree from Whittier College and a master of arts degree in government from California State University, Los Angeles.

Download Christopher T. Cross's Resume

August 3, 2009

Cross & Joftus Approved by California Department of Education as Service Provider for Low-Performing Districts
Cross & Joftus, a national education consulting firm, has been approved by the California Department of Education as a provider of district assistance intervention services under a state program that provides targeted assistance to school districts that have been placed in program improvement (PI) status.

Under that program, districts in PI status may work with an authorized service provider such as Cross & Joftus to assist the district in examining and evaluating current practices, identifying and prioritizing the major needs of the district, and then helping to implement supports and actions that target identified needs. The goal is to assist the district to exit program improvement status. The effort is supported with federal dollars under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Cross & Joftus Chairman Christopher T. Cross said, "With this award and the recent award of a contract by the State of Kansas to be the exclusive provider of school and district improvement services in that state, Cross & Joftus has become nationally recognized as a strategic partner with states and districts in supporting their efforts to solve a critical national social issue, the turnaround of low-performing districts and schools." Cross also noted that the firm has been active in California as the manager of the California Student Success Project and in developing an on-line resource for teachers on behalf of the California Department of Education. (For more information, please visit www.edstrategies.net.)

With offices in California, Maryland, and Virginia, Cross & Joftus recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Current and past clients have included the Bill & Melinda Gates and Hewlett foundations, the United Way, the National Governors Association, the Pittsburgh (PA) Public Schools, the City of Philadelphia, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, and the Education Commission of the States.

For additional information contact Christopher T. Cross at chris@edstrategies.net, Alice Parker at alice@edstrategies.net or Joan Evans at joan@edstrategies.net.

Monica S. Rosen

Monica S. Rosen, Cross & Joftus Vice President and partner, has a wide range of experience in human capital management, organization design, leadership development, and principal recruitment and selection. Most recently, Rosen spearheaded C&J's work with Denver Public Schools in the area of principal screening and selection. She also led the C&J review of Syracuse City School District's human resources and talent management systems. Before joining C&J, Rosen directed the Chicago Public School's efforts to improve the quality of principals across the district, spearheading the redesign of a principal screening process, launching a local and national principal recruitment effort, and supporting the strategic promotion, support or removal of principals. She also established the Leadership Development and Support unit, where she oversaw the district's Principal Induction program, and support for the district's 26 Chief Area Officers. Prior to this role, Rosen helped lead a redesign of the district's Human Resources department, and then established and led the 65-staff member Employee Services team in HR. During her tenure in Employee Services, average transaction turn-around time improved from 8 weeks down to 3 days, call answer rates from 45% to 93%, and first call resolution from 45% to 75%.

Prior to joining Chicago Public Schools, Rosen worked in philanthropy and nonprofit management, serving as a grants administrator for the Tiger Foundation in New York City and then as Executive Director for Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a career development program for minority undergraduates and professionals. Rosen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wesleyan University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She is the recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and is a graduate of the Broad Residency in Urban Education.

Sharon Deich

Sharon Deich is vice president of the education policy consulting firm Cross and Joftus, where she focuses on education financing issues and change management. She also is expert in coupling after-school programming and traditional education reforms to improve student achievement.

Prior to joining the firm, she spent two decades in the nonprofit sector honing her research, policy, and technical assistance skills. During this time, she worked with federal agencies, state government leaders, city officials, and foundation initiative leaders on issues related to early care, K-12 education, after-school programming, and related education reform efforts.

From 1997 to 2007, Deich served as an associate director for The Finance Project, where she authored numerous briefs and reports on the financing of human services programs and provided technical assistance and expert facilitation to organizations looking to scale up and sustain promising initiatives. During this period, she also served on numerous advisory boards, including one for a joint project of the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Conference of State Legislatures to expand extra learning opportunities as a way to improve student success.

Before joining The Finance Project, Deich spent 15 years researching and evaluating programs that support low-income children and families. Her prior experience includes work for the American Institutes for Research, where she worked closely with the Head Start Bureau to revise performance standards and the training and technical assistance system. She also spent six years working at the Urban Institute, where she was a contributing researcher and author for the National Child Care Study.

Deich earned her bachelor's degree in economics from The State University of New York at Albany and earned her master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan.

Download Sharon Deich's Resume

Scott Joftus

Scott Joftus is president of the education policy consulting firm Cross & Joftus, LLC. Joftus brings important knowledge of evaluation and significant technical assistance experience. He was the primary developer and is now the director of The Learning Network, a partnership approach to school and school system improvement, which is being implemented statewide in Kansas. He is also the senior strategic advisor and technical assistance provider of the Race to the Top Technical Assistance Network, a $43 million initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education to help states implement major reforms and achieve dramatic improvements in student outcomes. Joftus also serves as an adjunct professor at The George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development, where he teaches leadership, program evaluation, and education policy.

Previously, he served as the policy director for the Alliance for Excellent Education, where he helped develop the agenda for the newly created policy organization focused on ensuring all students graduate high school prepared for college. From 1998 to 2002, Joftus was director of policy, research, and evaluation for The McKenzie Group, an education policy consulting firm. In this position, he conducted numerous evaluations for and provided technical assistance to the U.S. Department of Education and states and school districts nationwide.

He also served as a senior associate at the Council for Basic Education and as a strategic planning consultant to the San Francisco-based think tank Public Policy Institute of California. In addition, he was an elementary school teacher as a member of the first-ever corps of Teach for America.

Joftus earned his bachelor's degree in public policy from Duke University, a master's degree in public policy from the University of California at Berkeley, and a doctorate in education policy and leadership from The George Washington University.

Download Scott Joftus's Resume

Heather Clapp Padgette

Heather Clapp Padgette is a senior consultant with Cross & Joftus and has worked on topics such as high school reform and ways to finance summer learning opportunities. Padgette previously worked at The Finance Project, where she focused on out-of-school time, charter schools, and comprehensive school reform initiatives. She has authored several articles and provided direct technical assistance to state agencies and community organizations to help them identify financial and other resources to help sustain and expand programming. In former positions, Padgette has consulted with school districts and state policymakers on special education and childre's health services. She also worked on education reform issues for Chicago Public Schools and the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Padgette received a master's degree in public policy from the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at The University of Chicago.