"Rigor is the focus for this year's professional development."
"What we need to do is increase the rigor of classroom instruction."
The word "rigor" is used often in educational circles, especially when discussing school improvement or ways to increase test scores. Do a search on "how to increase rigor" and you'll get inundated with ideas, methods, and how-tos.
But what is rigor? Let's start with what it isn't, in a good old-fashioned Frayer-model nonexample/example kind of way. Rigor is not:
- Raising grading scales to raise an A from a 90% to a 93%.
- Cramming more content into courses.
- Counseling more and more students into taking AP classes.
- Giving students more homework.
- Having students do more of the same old memorize-recall for the test-repeat learning.
In other words, rigor is not more of what we traditionally do. And if it's not more of that stuff, what is it? To me, rigor is:
- More thinking - and more time for deeper thinking and real learning.
- Challenging and respectful tasks (such as problem- or project-based learning, genius hour/20% time, etc.) as well as challenging content
- Making learning more relevant to students by making it real, not school-contrived.
- Not letting students take shortcuts to real learning, and not letting students settle for less than mastery.
In our attempts to increase rigor, let's not fall into the trap of doing more of the same old thing and expecting different results. To increase rigor, you have to change what teachers do in regards to instruction and, more importantly, you have to change the what, how, and the why of what students do in the classroom.
