Despite participation growth trending upward for Tennessee’s voucher program, participants scored lower on state testing than public school students.
Education Savings Account program (ESA) students in Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga reported increased competency, the students did not score “as proficient or more proficient” than public school students statewide.
The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) said students enrolled in the ESA showed growth in their performance scores, but still scored lower than the statewide average and public school attendees.
“Analysis of Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) data showed that ESA students on average, demonstrated less academic growth than students in public schools taking the same assessments, though results varied by school and location,” a comptroller report on the ESA program said.
These findings were released as a part of the first evaluation of the ESA program from the comptroller’s office. This data is used to show the Tennessee General Assembly the efficiency of the program.
Adopted in 2019, the ESA program allows eligible students to attend non-public schools through public funds. Approved students began enrolling for the 2022-2023 school year following a court injunction delay.
The report offered insight on participation, academic outcomes and more. According to OREA data, most ESA participants are from Memphis.
Fifty-eight percent of Memphis’ ESA students identify as Black or African American.
To collect data, OREA used data based on student applications, parental satisfaction surveys, and school-level proficiency rates from TCAP provided by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE).
While 96 percent of participating students were represented in the first year of parent satisfaction surveys, only 15 percent were represented by the third year. OREA recommended TDOE make better efforts to collect data.
The report noted that while the TCAP is used to measure student proficiency based on public school criteria, it may not correlate with public school coursework.
English language arts (ELA) scores grew by 2 to 3 percentage points at Memphis ESA schools — exceeding Memphis Shelby County Schools proficiency scores in 2024-25 by 2.6 percentage points.
Memphis ESA schools were the only ones to exceed public school scores in ELA. Memphis students also exceeded their public school counterparts by one half a percentage point in math for the 2024-25 year.
While the TCAP measures “achievement of standards at one point in time” TVAAS measures “student growth over time.” ESA students overall scored lower than their public school peers on TVAAS.
The highest TVAAS score is a level that signifies student growth exceeding expectations.
“Of the 27 schools with TVAAS data available for 2024-25, 22 schools received at least one rating of level 1 or level 2 on individual subject tests, evidence that students performed below growth expectations,” the report said. “One school in Memphis achieved the TVAAS score of a level 5, and five ESA schools received scores of level 4. The level 4 scores come from two schools in Nashville and three schools in Memphis.”
Fifty-seven percent of ESA TVAAS in Memphis were at a level 3 or higher, while 64 percent of MSCS students scored at the same level.
OREA said TDOE has not developed a plan for what qualifies as “low academic performance” for ESA schools. The department relies on parental satisfaction and student participation to measure the effectiveness of the ESA program.
TDOE should create and share metrics that would define low academic performance to ensure ESA students are receiving an adequate education based on TDOE’s specified parameters and available data, the report said