A Statement on the Forthcoming Update to the Honesty Gap
In an era where state education leaders recognize that pandemic recovery efforts are falling short and policymakers have shown little appetite to take on big questions around school accountability, there is ample opportunity to provide an appearance of success by lowering student expectations. Conversely – it’s not that appealing for a state to hold their bar high.
Troubling signs can already be seen. A growing list of states are lowering their definitions of proficiency, potentially muddying attempts to clearly understand student progress – or declines.
Some states are taking advantage of the pandemic disruption, four years later, and now risk walking back our collective responsibility for, and belief in, the potential of all kids. While shrouding historic declines in academic achievement may ease the discomfort of today’s political environment – doing so most certainly undermines the chance of students gaining the higher-level skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the future workforce.
Our state-level leaders must strive to be as clear as possible with where students stand on their path to success. We know that currently parents widely “underestimate” how well their children are performing academically. According to recent research by Gallup and Learning Heroes, 8 in 10 parents believe their child is performing at grade level, yet only 4 in 10 students actually are.
As states make decisions that may impact how student progress is characterized and shared with stakeholders, we urge them to prioritize being honest and transparent above all else. And we, the broader education community, must uplift transparency and honest state leadership. Students, families, and educators deserve the best, most accurate information possible about how children are faring academically.
In the coming months, the Collaborative for Student Success will be revisiting and updating the Honesty Gap and its partner platform AssessmentHQ.org to shine more light on how truthfully states are presenting academic achievement post-pandemic.
OVERCOMING THE GAP
Parents deserve the truth. Historically, states have exaggerated the percent of students who are proficient – as demonstrated by the huge gaps that have existed between state NAEP scores and what states report as their proficiency rate. Thankfully, over the past two years, many states have worked to close these “Honesty Gaps” and provide parents with more truthful information. We are proud to report that many states have made significant progress towards this end.
We are on the right road to fixing this problem. Today, many states have taken the steps needed to address the Honesty Gap – mainly, the adoption of rigorous, comparable standards and high-quality assessments that give parents real information. And this year’s results show that it’s working.
We can’t go backwards. Opponents of Common Core and high quality tests want to take states and the country backward. Yet they offer no alternative plan to ensuring that parents have the right information and that we are graduating kids that are prepared for success in life. Standards and assessments may not be popular terms – but opponents owe parents a plan for ensuring student success without them.
There is lots of blame to go around. Parents should not simply blame schools for the Honesty Gap – politicians have played a huge part in creating it. Both elected officials and some in the education establishment have not had the political courage to be honest and forthright with parents. And our kids have been the collateral damage.
Want to learn more? Check out the Honesty Gap Fact Sheet.