Today a coalition of colleges and universities led by the Harvard Graduate School of Education released a report, «Turning the Tide,» that says colleges and universities should focus more on ethical
engagement than test scores when considering prospective students.
The policies that were criticized were those that increased attention to academic outcomes at the expense of children's exploration, discovery, and play; methods that focused on large group activities and completion of one - dimensional worksheets and workbooks in place of actual
engagement with concrete objects and naturally occurring experiences of the world; and directives that emphasized the use of group - administered, computer -
scored, multiple - choice achievement
tests in order to determine a child's starting place in school rather
than assessments that rely on active child
engagement, teacher judgment, and clinical opinion.
Research shows that students who learned through Defined STEM projects have shown improved
engagement, 21st century skills, and achieved +39 % higher
test scored than students who received traditional instruction.