This story is a co-publication with Capital & Main.
When the report from the National Commission on Excellence in Education rolled off the presses 40 years ago, it could have easily met the same fate as nearly every other volume churned out by the Government Printing Office: promptly tucked away on a shelf and forgotten. Most of the report’s authors, an 18-member panel made up primarily of school and college administrators, weren’t household names. If anything, their work product looked a little light, coming in at just a few dozen pages.
