DUH!

Education currently exists in a test-driven climate. The objective of this test-driven climate is to promote higher student achievement – a noble objective. Unfortunately the outcome of such a climate is a rampant lack of engagement in students. It really is that simple.

In an online periodical I receive daily the following article was published. Research: Student Engagement key to higher achievement. The link title leads one to believe that there is new research…that we have recently discovered that engagement is key to higher achievement. Each of us teachers shared a laugh…we commonly like to respond to such claims with, “Duh!” Every teacher knows that engagement is key to achievement. Every teacher has studied the research – it is required in our licenses and is well known best practice. When I dug a little deeper into this ‘duh’ article, I was not surprised to find that the research within is decades old. If you have an interest in reading about knowledge and research that has been around for decades please look into this article.

It baffles me that policy makers continue to rehash old ideas, utilize untrustworthy methods such as a test-driven climate and mostly, it baffles me that they don’t officially recognize student engagement as paramount in an educational setting – DUH! It’s research!