Education in real bad shape?

Our public school systems around the nation are in such bad shape that even the most modest improvements are heralded as major reforms:

The Delaware plan requires teachers and principals to show growth in student achievement as a condition of receiving favorable ratings and allows schools to remove “ineffective” teachers from the classroom.
Tennessee passed a strong law mandating that 50 percent of a teacher’s or principal’s evaluation be based on student achievement data.

The editorial is focused on the other states that have done even less and how the Obama administration is trying to hold the various state education systems to a high standard.

But in reality, the high standard is mediocre. We should demand that all students reach their potential. They and their parents should determine whether that's the case not some "system".

We should offer universal vouchers to every parent for every child. Then have the public school system compete for those dollars as well as be a school of last resort.