Student Engagement: a Substitute for Standardized Tests?

Student engagement can indeed be a good indicator of achievement, but not in every case. For example, children can engage in a project based on a story in their basal reader, but that does not prove they are capable of actually reading and comprehending that story. Similarly, a student's science fair entry may not indicate that he or she is capable of producing the mathematical values that led to the project's conclusion.

Policy makers need valid and reliable means to measure achievement and build accountability, not just for teachers, but also for those who train teachers. Standardized tests fill that critical need. Besides, those who can demonstrate achievement through meaningful engagement in classroom activity are, in all likelihood, equally prepared to do the same on standardized tests.

Phonics: A Key Element for Building Cultural Awareness

We have been training teachers to work in diverse communities for a long time, and in fact, teacher preparation institutions have stressed matters relevant to cultural diversity for decades. But if children, especially at-risk children, are to have the capability to independently access this knowledge, we need to provide them with the essential tool for doing so. That tool, as the data shows so irrefutably, is direct and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. Makes sense. Would you be able to learn about your family background by reading symbols you are incapable of decoding?