Testing

Three education professors in Washington state have come up with a proposed ballot initiative that would require candidates running for local or state office to take the state's 10th grade test and post their scores on the secretary of state's Web site and in voters' pamphlets.

"Part of it is the Golden Rule," explained Bob Howard, an assistant professor of education at the University of Washington in Tacoma. "In creating social policy, it seems to be a good idea to create policies that you could live with if they applied to you."

If the test content is "truly essential," he added, "then it seems to me that we should take it seriously and apply it to...