Panel: U.S. Should Create National Standards, Spend Billions More on Pre-K-12 Schooling

Washington

A liberal-leaning group of political leaders and education policy experts is urging a new set of strategies for boosting the quality of public education in the United States, including voluntary national academic standards, preschool for every child, an extended school day and year, and a massive new amount of federal spending on education—at least $325 billion over the next 10 years.

Members of an education policy task force, including Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, made their recommendations public on Aug. 23 at the National Press Club.

The panel’s report, “Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer: A Progressive Education Agenda for a Stronger Nation,” originally was designed as a response to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the 2002 law that requires every state to test students in grades 3-8 in reading and...