This week, the good news never ends. Check out David Hoff’s latest post: Principals’ Group Joins Push for National Standards.

Rick Hess and Paul Peterson’s annual look at state proficiency standards is out in the latest issue of Education Next, and the news resembles what Fordham’s Proficiency Illusion report found last fall: a “walk to the middle.” Standards are slipping, particularly in eighth grade.

Their analysis considers the percentage of students passing state tests and compares that to the percentage of a state’s students passing the National Assessment of Educational Progress. From the press release:

Only three states—South Carolina, Massachusetts and Missouri—established world-class standards in math and reading for their students, earning each an “A”. Every other state set a lower proficiency standard—some far short of the NAEP standard. Georgia, for instance, declared 88 percent of 8th graders proficient in reading, even though just 26 percent scored at or above the proficiency level on the NAEP. Georgia joined Oklahoma and Tennessee at the bottom of the class, each earning an “F” for their state standards.

You know where this is going... is it so wrong to dream about national standards?

Spellings definitely thinks we should have a national way of calculating the number of dropouts. But a national way to calculate student achievement? No way! Are you nuts?