Rigor Defined

I am an educator who has become overwhelmed with 21^st Century Educational jargon, while being underwhelmed with the clarity and specificity to what many of the terms actually mean.  My newest pet peeve is the overuse of the word "Rigor."  I have heard the word  mentioned at least 1 million times in the past 5 years.  I have found that if you ask 5 different people what it means, you'll get 5 different answers.  I finally did what any educated Principal would do when uncertain about the definition of a word.... I googled it!  I got 34,300,000 hits (well that narrowed it down!).  The first link listed on google was a Merriam-Webster site's definition of rigor: (1)harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment : severity. (2): the quality of being unyielding or inflexible : strictness. Do we want our curriculum, classrooms and teachers to be "inflexible, severe or strict?"  I didn't think so.  I will give google credit, however, as I came across an excellent article on rigor via @ASCD and written by Tony Wagner titled Rigor Redefined. 

 



 

So then I did what any educated Principal who wants the BEST answer to a question would do - I asked a teacher!  In fact, I asked our entire staff to define Rigor and what it looks like at our school.  The document below is our living draft, that will continuously be refined and improved as our collegial and professional discourse continues.  It is a baseline for our discussions on good teaching and best practice and will guide us on our journey to greatness.    

 

Normandin Middle School

-Academic Rigor-

Rigor is multifaceted, challenging instruction that encourages each student to reach his/her academic, intellectual potential.

Common characteristics of a rigorous classroom @Normandin:

 

• Student work is posted
• Folders/portfolios/notebooks evident
• Continuous momentum
• Active, relevant discussions
• Multiple tiered lessons
• Student ownership of learning
• Independent learning encouraged through gradual release of responsibility
• Students are engaged and on task in meaningful, learning activities
• Curiosity promoted by a safe learning environment
• Honoring varied learning styles through differentiated instruction
• Constantly pushing towards higher level thinking through continuous effective questioning which requires thought, reflection and critical thinking skills—Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Continuous, productive feedback provided by teacher
• Sense of enthusiasm and curiosity for learning
• Student collaboration
• Relevant vocabulary used in instruction and classroom discussion
• How skills and information can be applied to daily life, i.e. technology, science, history, math and literacy
• Classroom rules, procedures and routines are established
• Clearly stated lesson goals and objectives
• Clear academic and behavioral expectations are defined and reviewed by teachers on a regular basis

How are you defining Rigor at your school?  Please share!