Honest Education Alliance

Honest testing. Honest schools. · honesteducationalliance.com · alex@honesteducationalliance.com

Every parent deserves to know what their child knows and when they know it.

Who we are

An advocacy organization that informs the public about structural dishonesty in K–12 testing and promotes secure, independent measurement of student learning. Founded 2025 by Dr. John Jacob Cannell, MD (Friends for Education, 1987).

The problem: the Lake Wobegon Effect

In 1987, every U.S. state reported elementary students “above the national average” on commercial tests—a statistical impossibility. The finding was confirmed by the U.S. Department of Education and covered by major national media. The structural problem continues: state-controlled tests often look far better than NAEP, the secure national benchmark.

75% → 16% Mississippi reading: state test vs NAEP

49% → 28% New York City ELA: state test vs NAEP

U.S. educators largely pick the test, administer the test, and report the results—unlike secure professional exams or top international systems.

What we want

Expand NAEP to a census of students in grades 4, 8, and 12 so families get honest, comparable scores.
Independent national testing agency with real security: no educator pre-access to items; no year-after-year reuse without replacement; no selling of live test content as “prep.”

Key documents

2026 white paper: Thirty-Seven Years of Educational Fraud
1987 report: Nationally Normed Elementary Achievement Testing… How All Fifty States Are Above the National Average
Testing Resistance Across Administrations (Clinton/Bush era)

Contact

Web: https://honesteducationalliance.com
Email: alex@honesteducationalliance.com
Mailing list: https://honesteducationalliance.com/contact.html