The Search for Real Rigor

Debbie Willingham
May 19, 2008

How many years in a row do students learn to identify verbs and adjectives, trace the journeys of early explorers, and label the parts of a plant? The teacher in the "next" grade justifies the time taken for this by saying that they come to her not knowing it and she has to start at the beginning, or that the content is in this grade's state standards. Both may be true, but we cannot continue to teach the same thing over and over, losing valuable time we should spend extending students' thinking and taking them to deeper levels of understanding of the concept.

The search for real rigor should lead us to a clear understanding of the vertical progression of a concept through the grades and consistently high expectations for every student to continually reach more sophisticated depths of understanding of a topic. Standards as written often do not provide enough information for teachers to determine exactly what they should teach or the level to which they should take a concept until they look at where it was previously taught and at what level it will again be addressed. Teachers should then take what they are responsible for teaching and strive to have an intellectually-charged classroom climate that intentionally encourages students to "stand on their mental tiptoes" throughout the year. In addition to high expectations for students, teachers must also use a variety of instructional strategies that address various learning styles and aptitudes on a consistent, ongoing basis. They must make assignments that reflect a wide variety of high level skills that extend student thinking and that require challenging and meaningful use of knowledge and skills to provide evidence of deep understanding of content, concepts, and relationships.

Rigor is not a goal in itself; rather, its impact is seen as the result of learning experiences in which students internalize, refine, and extend knowledge and understanding through a wide variety of high-level critical thinking skills and inquiry. The resulting high quality products and performances that continue or culminate a study are evidence of students' understanding of enduring concepts and overarching ideas. Expectations and attitudes on the part of both students and teachers should reflect the excitement of pushing far beyond the typical minimum requirements that are tested and aiming for an internalized ethic of quality work.

Teachers can self-assess the degree of rigor they require by asking themselves four questions as they plan for instruction:

  • What is the most sophisticated depth of knowledge and understanding of this topic my students should reach this year?

  • How can I incorporate a variety of instructional strategies in teaching new content/skills for this topic?

  • How can I vary assignments throughout the study of this concept to meet my students' abilities, interests, and learning styles while pushing all to stretch just beyond their comfort level?

  • How can I ensure that my assessments require students to use high levels of thinking and skills to demonstrate their deep understanding of the topic under study?

When teachers thoughtfully plan with these four questions in mind, they will see in their planning the end of the search for real educational rigor: the blending of standards-based curriculum, instruction, assignments, and assessments with high expectations and high level reasoning processes in every subject and at every grade level in ways that challenge all students to reach more sophisticated depths of knowledge and understanding.