What is Achievement?

That is the $64 Billion dolalr question, isn't it?

In today's education reform era, student achievement is king. We want to see our kids succeeding. We want to see test scores rise. We want to know we can better compete against foreign nations on things like PISA and TIMSS. We want assurances our students are getting a top-notch education measure by results, and not by processes.

But what, exactly, is achievement? Eduflack and a close friend have been debating this very issue this week, and it really has me thinking. Do we, as a nation, now believe that student achievement is only measured based on state-offered standardized tests? And if not, what else qualifies as a measurement tool?

When you get a definition for achievement, you can answer a great many of today's greatest education debates.