The Road Not Taken

By Karen Diegmueller

and Millicent Lawton

At the end of a marathon day at the recent national education summit in Palisades, N.Y., weary participants endured an unexpectedly prolonged bus ride to their hotel. The shuttle-bus driver got lost, stretching the 30-minute ride from the conference center into a 45-minute trip.

And much like that roundabout bus trip, the journey toward rigorous academic standards for all students promises to be lengthy, bumpy, meandering, and saddled with back-seat drivers. Because of the course the leaders at the summit chose to take, it may detour down as many side roads as there are schools and never reach its desired destination,...