1 a 1:harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment :severity 2:the quality of being unyieldin

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1 a (1) harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper,
or judgment  severity (2) the quality of being
unyielding or inflexible  strictness
(3) severity of life  austerity b an act or
instance of strictness, severity, or cruelty2 a
tremor caused by a chill3 a condition that makes
life difficult, challenging, or uncomfortable
especially  extremity of cold4 strict precision
 exactness ltlogical rigorgt5 aobsolete  rigidity
stiffness b rigidness or torpor of organs or
tissue that prevents response to stimuli
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Lets start with what it is not. Rigor is not
fifty math problems for homework when fewer will
achieve mastery. Rigor is not more worksheets for
the student who finished the assignment early.
Rigor is not using a seventh grade text book with
your high performing sixth grade students. Rigor
is not covering more material in a shorter period
of time. Rigor is not cold or impersonal. And
most of all, rigor is not just for a select group
of students.
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The most concise definition of rigor Ive
encountered is taken from Teaching What Matters
Most Standards and Strategies for Raising
Student Achievement by Richard W. Strong, Harvey
F. Silver and Matthew J. Perini, ASCD, 2001.
According to Strong, Silver, and Perini, Rigor
is the goal of helping students develop the
capacity to understand content that is complex,
ambiguous, provocative, and personally or
emotionally challenging.
http//debbieshultsblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it
-rigor-or-is-it-something-else.html
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In The Trenches A Teachers Defense of Public
Education byDennis Fermoyle
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Everybody wants more academic rigor from our
public schools unless, it means that someone
might be inconvenienced.
http//publiceducationdefender.blogspot.com/2007/0
8/academic-rigor-top-american.html
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From Teaching What Matters Most Standards and
Strategies for Raising Student Achievement
byRichard W. Strong, Harvey F. Silver and
Matthew J. Perini, ASCD, 2001
7
Rigor is not a special program or curriculum for
select students. They (the students) are ordinary
students attending traditional public schools
where standardized tests and state-run curricula
are the rule of the day.
8
Rigor is not about severity or hardship. The
classrooms we have looked into are both warm and
challenging.
9
Rigor is not about back-to-basics. It is not an
attempt to roll back education to some prior
ideal state, or to find a curriculum that is
somehow more fundamental or natural.
10
Rigor is not about higher-order thinking. The
examples are concerned with the content students
were learning, not on how they were asked to
think about it.
11
Rigor is neither a conservative nor a liberal
agenda that privileges the ideas of one
civilization over another. No culture has any
prior or superior claim or rigor the students in
our vignettes examined content from a rich
variety of cultures.
12
Finallyand most importantrigor is not a measure
of the quantity of content to be covered. Rather,
rigor is a measure of that contents quality.
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We are asserting that the ability to manage
difficult content is afundamental skill all
students need, in school and out.
14
Students regularly work with difficult texts and
ideas. The decision to withhold rigor from some
students is one of the most important reasonswhy
schools fail.
15
Content should be complex, provocative,
ambiguous, personally or emotionally
challenging.
16
http//www.smallschoolsproject.org/PDFS/co21003/ri
gor_not.pdf
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Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the
capacity to understand content that is complex,
ambiguous,provocative, and personally or
emotionally challenging.
18
First, the definition describes rigor as a
curriculum goal. Most definitions define rigor
simply asdifficulty. By making it a goal, we are
asserting that the ability to manage difficult
content is afundamental skill all students need,
in school and out. Second, the definition
requires that students regularly work with
difficult texts and ideas. In focusing onthe
role of content, we are supporting David Perkins
assertion in Smart Schools Better Thinking
andLearning For Every Child (1992) that the most
important decision we make is not how to teach,
but whatto teach. In fact, the decision to
withhold rigor from some students is one of the
most important reasonswhy schools fail. All
students need schools to provide both rigorous
content and direct instruction in theskills
needed to manage that content (e.g., note making,
summarizing, glossing a text). Third, the
definition points out the different ways in which
content can become rigorous. Some contents,
like molecular biology or economics, are complex,
composed of interacting andoverlapping ideas
(think cellular respiration, the structure or an
ecosystem, or the causes of depressionsor
recessions) Others are provocative, conceptually
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Rigor at RiskReaffirming Qualityin the High
SchoolCore Curriculum2007ACT
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Rigor thoughts from ACT

• 1. The core curriculum an unfulfilled promise
• Far too many students who take a core curriculum
  today are unprepared for
• the challenges of first-year college coursework.
• 2. A rigorous core aligning the essentials
• The rigor of core courses is at risk in todays
  high schools unless we align
• a number of the essentials for college readiness.
• 3. The impact of rigor real evidence of progress
• Research shows that high school courses can be
  made rigorous and that
• rigorous content can be effectively taught and
  learned.

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ACT ProposalsThe rigor of core courses in our
nations high schools can be improved.

• 1. Specify the number and kinds of courses that
  students need to take to
• graduate from high school ready for college
  and work.
• 2. Align high school course outcomes with state
  standards that are driven
• by the requirements of postsecondary
  education and work.
• 3. Provide teacher support.
• 4. Expand access to high-quality, vertically
  aligned core courses.
• 5. Measure results at the course level.
• http//www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/rigor_summary.p
  df

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Academic rigor means the consistent expectation
of excellence and the aspiration to significant
achievement. It should pervade the entire
atmosphere of the University--teaching and
learning, curriculum, evaluation of student and
faculty, outreach, admissions, advising, and
student life.Rigorous TeachingCalifornia State
university, Chico
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Education Commission of the States 700
Broadway, Suite 1200 Denver, CO 80203-3460
303.299.3600 Fax [phone] www.ecs.org
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Ensuring Rigor in the High School Curriculum
What States Are Doing

• Raising the number of Carnegie units required to
  earn a diploma
• Specifying certain courses, including
  higher-level science and math, in which students
  must earn credits.

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But increased graduation requirements do not
necessarily translate into a more rigorous and
challenging curriculum. Various indicators
suggest that far too many high school students
are being sold orange drink under the label of
orange juice.
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The only people who make money in the United
States are working in the U. S. Mint. Everybody
else has to earn it. Ken Carter the real Coach
Carter.
John Troutman Dushawn and Coach Earned It,
Harrisburg Patriot-News, January 26, 2007