The current era of standards and accountability in U.S. public schooling narrows recognition and assessment to an almost exclusive focus on the production of test scores as legitimate markers of student achievement. This climate prevents rather than encourages democratic forms of exchange within and across social worlds. Via a case study of one student's experience in a project on the civil rights movement, I present the concept of "unalienated recognition" to describe a form of democratic exchange that centers on what students produce through community-based projects. (Contains 4 notes.)