Commentary: Correcting the “honesty gap” in testing was good business in Tennessee

Stock image of student taking a multiple choice test

Take a moment and imagine yourself a leader of a large, successful company.  Due to a recent surge in consumer demand for your product, you are trying to determine the location of a new manufacturing plant.  The plant would create thousands of new, high-quality jobs and provide twice as many opportunities for in-state contractors. 

After months of feasibility and impact studies, you and your development team have finally landed on two possible locations—one in state A and one in state B.  By nearly all measures, both sites are identical.  Both are in high-growth counties with substantial working age populations, both are located within key logistical corridors, and both states boast a “business friendly”, low-tax climate. 

One evening, you are poring through piles of data on each state’s workforce outlook when you stumble across some startling information on state A’s public education system.  While the state claimed 90 percent of its students were reading on grade level based on statewide exams, only 25 percent of students scored proficient on national reading exams. 

After noticing similar disparities in math proficiency, you begin to have second thoughts about state A.  If a state is not honestly reporting its public education data, could they perhaps be misleading you in other ways?  Would a state with merely a quarter of students at proficiency in core curriculum be able to supply an educated, competent workforce? You wisely choose state B for the new site. 

This phenomenon, known as the “honesty gap,” was a common occurrence in Tennessee until relatively recently.  In 2007, the state reported 88 percent of fourth-grade students were proficient on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) reading, while only 27 percent of the same group of students scored proficient on the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) reading section. 

The gap was even sharper in eighth-grade math that same year, with 88 percent of students reported as TCAP proficient compared to just 22 percent on the NAEP equivalent. 

While TCAP and NAEP are different assessments, the latter is an important metric by which academic achievement can be measured between states.  Generally, when states align their assessments more closely with national standards, student proficiency increases, making them more competitive in college admissions and job markets post-graduation.

Thankfully, Tennessee’s story has taken a positive turn over the last decade.  Between 2007 and 2011, major reforms in statewide assessments substantially narrowed the honesty gap, a trend that continued until COVID-19.  By 2019, TCAP proficiency in core subject areas virtually mirrored NAEP scores. 

As a result of greater alignment, Tennessee moved from being outperformed by 32 states in NAEP fourth-grade reading in 2007 to just 12 states in 2022.  In eighth-grade math, Tennessee moved from the bottom 15 among all states to the top 20 over the same timeline. 

That this improvement in national rankings has corresponded with immense economic development and greater opportunity for many Tennesseans is no accident.  A sustainable, educated workforce is an increasingly strong consideration for business leader as technology, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors look to expansion opportunities. 

We still have work to do.  Despite our state’s meteoric climb in academic achievement, there are some who wish to lower state standards and roll back much of the last decade’s progress under the banners of “localized control” and “reducing regulation”. 

State and local governments both share authority over public education—and for good reason.  This prevents concentration of power in the hands of the few and creates a two-way system of accountability.  Any effort to weaken the state’s ability to set and monitor academic standards would lead to greater disparities between districts, with those in our rural counties likely seeing the most negative impact. 

Tennessee has become an increasingly attractive investment for business because we have invested in ourselves and in our future.  Every year we face a choice—will we continue this investment and enjoy its benefits, or will we fall into old habits and face decline? 

Steven Bergman serves as Assistant Director of Government Relations for Tennesseans for Student Success. The Tennessee Firefly is a project of and supported by Tennesseans for Student Success.