Representative Mark White to Chair the Governing Board Overseeing the Nation’s Report Card

State Representative Mark White (Photo by Mark White)

Tennessee House Education Committee Chair Mark White, R-Memphis, says he plans to use his new leadership post to convince more private schools to take part in national testing.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon named White as the chair of the National Assessment Governing Board. The panel oversees the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), frequently called the Nation’s Report Card, and it sets NAEP achievement levels and determines which grades and subjects to assess and what content to include.

Private schools represent about 23 percent of schools in the nation, but they aren’t required to participate in the NAEP, and White says only a small percentage do.

The Memphis state representative says that with more states joining Tennessee in allowing families to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school, it has become more important for those schools to voluntarily take part in the NAEP.

“That’s going to allow for a larger percentage of our nation’s students in private schools,” said White in an interview with the Tennessee Firefly. “As that grows, I think it’s very important so that we know as a nation know how well all our students are doing.”

Under the Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship Act, participants in third through 11th grade are required to either take a nationally standardized achievement test or the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). The NAEP would be an additional test for participating private schools that volunteer to take part.

NAEP Cited for Tennessee’s Improvement

Students across the country in fourth and eighth grade take the NAEP assessment in math and reading every two years, and high school seniors take those subjects every four years. Students in fourth and eighth grade additionally receive assessments in writing and science every four years through the NAEP.

White and other education leaders frequently cite poor NAEP results in the mid-2000s as being a driving factor for the state to raise its academic standards to align with national tests.

 “So, we got busy using the NAEP scores and we created higher standards for ourselves, and we tested to those standards, and then by 2017, we were according to the NAEP test, we were the fastest improving state in the nation in education,” said White.

History of Education Service

White began chairing the newly created House Education Committee this year after leading the former Education Instruction Committee for more than a decade. During that time, he’s helped guide major education reforms like the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement and the Literacy Success Act. Before holding public office, White spent five years teaching in Memphis and served as the Harding Academy-Wooddale Principal.

The Memphis State Representative has additionally served on the National Assessment Governing Board for the last five years, and his appointment as chair comes during a critical time.

Though Tennessee students beat the national average for the first time in 2024’s NAEP, nationwide scores for reading, math, and science have shown stagnation and decline that have continued to worsen since the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“The 2024 NAEP results confirmed a devastating trend – American students are falling behind at alarming rates and achievement gaps are wider than ever before,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a news release announcing White’s appointment, along with two new members of the governing board. “I am proud to appoint these education professionals who have deep expertise in testing best practices, education reform, and early learning development. Not only will their expertise help shape future assessments, but they will deliver meaningful data to policymakers across the nation to support urgently needed improvements in K-12 classrooms.” 

Trump Administration’s Support of Testing

The decision to appoint White to lead the National Assessment Governing Board continues a string of decisions by the Trump administration in support of the value of standardized testing.

Despite that support, some Republicans in Tennessee have questioned the amount of testing students face. Last month, lawmakers held a hearing to research the issue, and the General Assembly is expected to consider tweaks to the state assessment system next year.

White has historically been protective of Tennessee’s assessment system, and he tells the Tennessee Firefly that he aims to ensure the NAEP remains strong as well while chairing its governing board.

“We’ve gotta have some kind of accountability measure for all 50 states, especially as the federal government under this current administration is looking at sending more of the responsibility, more of the funding back to the individual states. I think we still need that national accountability to know how well everybody is doing, because you can take your eye off the ball real quick.”