In Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and beyond, opponents of school choice have sought to force public school tests on private schools participating in school choice programs.
asserted
opponents → seek → programs
While they’ve been thwarted for now, proponents of education choice should remain ready to defend assessment choice.
asserted
proponents → thwart → choice
It’s what lets a school’s own academic standard, not a borrowed one, be the standard it’s judged by.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
Most recently, opponents of education freedom in Tennessee condemned a new state law letting students in the state’s Education Savings Account program to take a nationally standardized test instead of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.
asserted
students → condemn → Program
They decried ESA students’ underperformance on the TCAP and assert that not administering the public school test is to abandon the only legitimate measure of whether school choice works.
asserted
choice → decry → measure
It isn’t, and Tennessee lawmakers were right to assert as much when they passed SB 1585.
asserted
they → assert → SB
Like all state assessments, TCAP is criterion-referenced to public school standards.
asserted
TCAP → reference → standards
In other words, it measures whether students have mastered a specific list of skills and academic content that the state government expects public school students to learn at a given grade level.
asserted
students → measure → level
These standards often prescribe what content and in what sequence students should be taught, and often align with a specific pedagogical model such as Common Core.
asserted
students → prescribe → Core
They deeply influence instructional methods, from how multiplication is introduced in early grades to when students encounter certain literary forms.
asserted
students → influence → forms
But private schools are not required to follow those standards, and most don’t.
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most → require → standards
In fact, one of the primary reasons families make use of school choice is to find a different academic approach.
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families → make → approach
According to a 2026 EdChoice survey, the most common reason parents move their children from one school to another is unmet academic needs.
uncertain
parents → accord → another
So, if students are placed in private schools that teach to different standards and in a different manner than the local public school, a low score on a state test doesn’t necessarily mean the school, student, or choice program failed.
asserted
school → place → test
Tennessee Republican state Sen. Jack Johnson made this point during debate over SB 1585, calling it “a mistake” to have required the TCAP because the exam is “not an accurate assessment for some private schools.”
None of this means ESA programs shouldn’t be measured.
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programs → make → this
It means they should be measured well, and Arkansas shows what that looks like.
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that → mean → what
Arkansas’s Education Freedom Account program posted enrollment growth of 157% in its second year and at least 227% in its third, with a 91% year-over-year renewal rate.
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program → post → rate
Each student in this growing cohort is required to take annually a nationally normed, nationally standardized assessment in English and math.
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student → grow → English
Nationally standardized assessments are built on a different model than their state test peers.
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assessments → build → peers
Rather than aligning with a particular curriculum or measuring mastery of a state’s public school standards, they measure academic proficiency against a broadly applicable set of skills and academic content.
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they → align → skills
The scores on these tests then provide a reference point in comparison to the national student population taking that exam.
asserted
scores → provide → exam
Thus, the variety of competing national standardized tests provide a flexible and fair yardstick that can fit any curriculum a student’s school follows.
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school → compete → curriculum
Based on this measure, Arkansas students are “performing at a level substantially higher than the national norm” in both math and reading, according to a study from University of Arkansas professor Patrick Wolf.
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students → base → Wolf
At the same time, Wolf explained, the state’s expansive menu of assessment options ensures “testing freedom,” meaning schools choose assessments that fit their curriculum.
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that → explain → curriculum
This avoids what he calls “institutional isomorphism”: the risk of choice programs slowly forcing private schools to mimic their public peers.
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programs → avoid → peers
A synthesis of 49 separate studies and a RAND Corporation analysis both found that teachers alter their classroom practices to align with the content students would see on exams.
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students → find → exams
As David Coleman, the CEO of College Board, which makes the SAT, put it, “Teachers will teach towards the test.
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Teachers → make → test
However, as opponents of school choice realize they can’t kill ESAs, they will increasingly claim accountability can only be found through comparability to public schools.
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accountability → realize → schools
School choice proponents should realize these proposals for what they are: an attempt to use ESAs as a tool for educational homogeneity.
asserted
they → realize → homogeneity
Treating public school exams as the sole yardstick for school choice programs that offer families a diversity of educational options defeats the purpose of school choice.
asserted
that → treat → choice
The Aporia
