National Math and Reading Standards?

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) has announced its support of the development of national standards in mathematics and reading. Education Daily also has a story on it today:

NASSP Director Gerald Tirozzi said the coun­try must shift to national standards to resolve the longstanding inability of educators, administrators and policymakers to make accurate state-by-state student performance comparisons under NCLB. The law allows each state to define its own content stan­dards in reading and math and set its own definition of proficiency attainment relative to those standards.

“In that wonderful year 2014, we’re going to have 50 ships showing up at Lake Wobegone and waving a different flag saying they’re proficient,” Tirozzi said, referencing NCLB’s overarching dead­line for having all students scoring on grade level. “Reading is reading, and no legislature can change the defining law of algebra. All states should be held accountable to address higher standards.”

What do you think about a move to national standards in these two core subjects/content areas?