Just two weeks ago at a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) I heard a similar report from its Study Group on International Comparisons in Education: "The bad news is most state education systems are falling dangerously behind the world in a number of international comparisons and on our own National Assessment of Educational Progress, leaving the United States overwhelmingly underprepared to succeed in the 21st century economy." (No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class System State by State, NCSL, August, 2016)

The Nation at Risk report led to numerous reforms, from high stakes standardized testing, charter schools, standards of learning, common core and others, many of which have themselves already been reformed. I question the accuracy of another report that predicts doom for our public schools.

That there is an unacceptable level of disparity in achievement among groups of students is undeniable. That our goals for our students may be greater than they can sometimes achieve may be true. That our schools do an incredibly wonderful job for most students has been my experience.

What I hope will not happen with this most recent report is that legislators will not jump in with both feet with the latest and greatest ideas they have about reforming schools, lay down unrealistic and inflexible regulations, or assume somehow that the private sector can do a better job than public schools.

Instead, I hope that citizens, advocates, and business representatives will make clear our expectations for our schools and give educators the responsibility to meet those goals with full accountability. That would mean paying our teachers and administrators commensurate with the responsibility they have, and that would be a significant increase over what they are paid today. I think preschool education should be fully funded for all children. The evidence of the return on investment that we would get with preschool programs is overwhelming. And I think we should give local schools  flexibility in the curriculum to work on developing problem-solving skills in children along with creativity, innovation and interpersonal skills.