About
About the Honest Education Alliance
Every parent deserves to know what their child knows and when they know it.
The Honest Education Alliance exists because education is the most important subject a society can be engaged in—and nothing is more corrosive to it than dishonesty dressed up as reform.
Building on Dr. John J. Cannell’s original “Lake Wobegon” research into inflated test scores and weak test security, the Alliance investigates systems that produce flattering numbers while independent measures show stagnation or decline. We inform the public and promote policy that makes measurement honest again.
Our purpose
- Inform parents, taxpayers, journalists, and policymakers about how testing systems can mislead.
- Document historical and current evidence, with sources anyone can check.
- Advocate for concrete reforms: secure, independent assessment at national scale.
Roots: Friends for Education (1987)
In 1987, Dr. Cannell founded Friends for Education after discovering that West Virginia—and then every state—reported above-average elementary achievement on commercial norm-referenced tests. The reports became national news, prompted federal attention, and helped drive reforms to NAEP so states could be compared honestly.
Thirty-seven years later, the structural problem remains. The Honest Education Alliance was founded in 2025 to continue that work with a clear public mission and a modern platform for research and advocacy.
Who we serve
The general public—especially anyone who cares about public education and the integrity of testing practices: parents, educators of good will, researchers, journalists, and policymakers.
Organizational status
The Honest Education Alliance is an advocacy organization. We are building the infrastructure for long-term public education and policy work. We do not currently claim 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status on this site.
What we do not do
We do not sell tests, test-prep products, or consulting packages to school districts. Our interest is transparent measurement that serves children and the public—not adult interests that benefit from inflated scores.
Accountability, not rumor
HEA is a research and advocacy organization. We highlight public history that shows this is not a new complaint: Friends for Education’s late-1980s consumer-fraud filings with state attorneys general and the FTC, decades of documented honesty gaps, and finished cases such as Atlanta’s educator prosecutions under Georgia racketeering law. We do not present unfiled draft lawsuits as active cases. For the documented trail and links, see Accountability history.
