“The Lake Wobegon Delusion”

See this excellent commentary by Gary Phillips of Knowledge Alliance member American Institutes for Research about re-introducing the idea of a voluntary national test--- an idea that he (and Mike Smith) led in the mid 1990’s when he was at US Department of Education. At that time, it caused a major partisan uproar in the Republican-controlled House of Rep. Is this now a good --- if not bi-partisan--- idea whose time has arrived?