Schoolkids in Tennessee are about to get a lot less proficient at reading. (No, not because of video games or television.)
It's because the state is recalibrating its standardized reading tests to make them harder. Why? Because while 87 percent of Tennessee fourth-graders scored "proficient" on state reading tests in 2005, only 27 percent scored "proficient" on national tests the same year.
That data is from a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study released earlier this year (in partnership with the Center for American Progress). Tennessee's toward the bottom of the heap, but it's far from the only state whose metrics are out of whack.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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