Utah is one of the first three states that has committed to taking a long, hard look at the way it educates students in light of a major report, a national commission announced Thursday.

Utah, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have all agreed to work toward some of the recommendations of "Tough Choices or Tough Times," a report released by the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce in 2006. That report warned that U.S. education must change if America's workforce is to remain competitive with those of other nations.

The report recommended a number of reforms, including universal preschool, using resources more efficiently, sending students to college after 10th grade, and recruiting teachers from the top one-third of high school graduates going to college, among other things.

"We're looking at everything the report has pointed out and trying to pick those [recommendations] we can afford," said Gayle McKeachnie, of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s 21st Century Workforce Initiative steering committee. Utah leaders, business people and educators have been working for months to pick apart what's working and what isn't in Utah's education and workforce training systems as part of the governor's initiative.

The steering committee hopes to present final recommendations to the governor by January, McKeachnie said.

He said, so far, the group has looked at such topics as early childhood education, teacher pay, teacher retention and recruitment, and how to better coordinate everyone involved with preparing Utah's workforce.

Marc Tucker, co-chair of implementation for the commission, praised Utah, New Hampshire and Massachusetts on Thursday for taking the lead. He said he expects more states to officially sign on soon.

"Over the last 40 years, one nation after another has produced a better educated workforce than we have," Tucker said. "Continue down that road and we are finished. These states have decided to reverse course. They are the best hope we have."

Massachusetts is committed to universal preschool and looking at creating a statewide teacher contract, said Paul Reville, Massachusetts Secretary of Education. And New Hampshire is looking at sending 10th graders straight to college if they're ready, said that state's Commissioner of Education Lyonel Tracy.

McKeachnie said Utah is taking a comparatively broader look.

"We're kind of looking at everything," McKeachnie said.

John Wilson, executive director of the National Education Association, said the union backs giving the recommended reforms a try.