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Democrats Air Dueling Ideas on Education

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves to the crowd outside a town hall meeting at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Va., last week.

—Alex Brandon/AP

By David J. Hoff

Democrats are almost certain to leave their convention in Denver united behind Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois as their nominee for president.

But it is less likely that they’ll settle an intraparty disagreement over the most pressing question in K-12 education policy: How much can the public expect of schools?

The stark differences emerged the week after Sen. Obama secured enough delegates to claim the nomination in June. On back-to-back days, two groups released public statements outlining approaches for improving K-12 achievement. One argued that policymakers need to invest in health care and other social programs before schools can deliver large increases in student achievement, while the other said that increased accountability, the expansion of charter schools, and other education policies would result...