• Is it about a standard that every child should reach, and if so, what is that standard? 
• What are the relative weights we should place on raising the performance of weaker performers, vs. raising all boats, vs. even focusing more on the most talented?
• Beyond the basic skills, how much is it about what students specifically learn, and how much about the advanced skills they develop as a result?
• Is there a way to make school more exciting and engaging, especially for teenagers?
• How much weight should be placed on preparing young people to be good citizens, effective parents and wise consumers?
• And how much weight on the lifelong education of adults?

2. As a result, we do not have a consensus on how to measure success.

• Are test scores enough? 
• Are some test scores far more important than others? If so, which?
• Is progress more important than any absolute standard?
• What other ways should we measure success besides tests? 

3. We do not have a consensus on who is accountable.

• How much accountability rests with the public system, and how much with parents and learners themselves?
• How much are schools accountable for, and how much depends on other government bodies - issues like housing mobility, child health, prenatal care, etc?
• How do we address the handoff between educational levels? If high school graduates need remedial attention before they can do college work, who is responsible? If young children show up unprepared for kindergarten, who is responsible?
• Is there a way to align accountability better with authority? If we use the model of increased competition, what are the right ground rules for that competition?

4.   We do not have a consensus on how parties should be held accountable:

• Is it the No Child Left Behind model, where schools are penalized for inadequate results and their students have more freedom to go elsewhere?
• Or is it a carrot model - with higher rewards, for example, to schools (and teachers) that show more progress and good data available to parents so they can decide where they want their kids to learn?
• Or is it a pure choice model - let every parent take public money to whatever school they choose?

5.  We have evidence about what works in education, but have not converted that knowledge into systematic improvement in outcomes.

• What are the clearly-agreed best practices, based on results?
• What are the barriers to replicating those results?
• How can we design a system to overcome those barriers?

6.  How do we link costs to all these goals and measures?

• How do we optimize outcomes for a given amount of money by including a cost-effectiveness component in the decisions?
• How do we determine the right amount of money to invest in better outcomes?