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Strategies Leaders Can Use to Improve
Rigor in Their Schools
Ronald Williamson and
Barbara R. Blackburn
(A photo
from our 2009 Summer Leadership Institute.)
(Click
here for a print friendly version.)
Concern about rigor is not new. Since
the release of A Nation At Risk (National Commission on Excellence in
Education,
1983) the debate about the quality of America’s schools has grown exponentially.
This debate calls for dramatically different schools, schools that are much more
responsive to student need, and provide a rigorous curriculum that prepares students
for success in higher education and the workplace.
Adoption
of No Child Left Behind in 2001 raised the debate
to a new level. For the first time, schools would
be held accountable for the achievement of every
student, not just the most capable.
Throughout
the nation the 3 R’s---Rigor, Relevance and
Relationships, are now accepted as necessary characteristics
of schools. Many states have adopted the 3 R’s
model as a requirement for school improvement efforts.
The Need for Rigor in
All Schools
Greater rigor in schools
has struck a chord with families of children in our
schools. Those families are bombarded with information
suggesting the knowledge and skills their children
will need for success. Recent changes in the American
economy have accelerated family interest in assuring
that their children receive a rigorous curriculum.
Concern about rigor, however,
is not limited to under-performing schools. Recently
Tony Wagner, Co-Director of the Change Leadership Group
at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, questioned
the academic rigor of even our “best schools
(2008). He visited dozens of classrooms and observed
students and teachers at work. He found that far too
often students in honors and advanced placement (AP)
classes were engaged in low level instructional activities
where students were not expected to use higher-order
thinking skills. Wagner found that, “of the hundreds
of classes that I’ve observed in recent years,
fewer than 1 in 20 were engaged in instruction designed
to teach students to think instead of merely drilling
for the test” (p. 24).
After talking with a group
of the nation’s top business leaders, from places
like Apple, Unilever and the US Army, Wagner identified
seven skills that every student must master in order
to survive in the 21st century.
Survival Skills for the 21st Century
1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
2. Collaboration and Leadership
3. Agility and Adaptability
4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
5. Effective Oral and Written Communication
6. Accessing and Analyzing Information
7. Curiosity and Imagination
From: Wagner, T. (2008). The Global Achievement
Gap. New York: Basic Books.
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Recent Discussion About Rigor
In the last few years several reports
addressing rigor have been released. The first, Reading
Between the Lines (2006) from ACT concluded that
most high school students are not prepared for college
level reading. A second report was published the
same year. The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High
School Drop-Outs (2006) reported on the experience
of high school dropouts and surprised many by revealing
that 88% of those who dropped out were not failing
school, and that 70% of the dropouts believed they
could have graduated.
So, what went wrong?
Students reported that they were not expected to
work hard (66%) and/or
were not motivated (69%). They also reported that
classes weren’t interesting (47%). Perhaps
most surprisingly, two-thirds of the students said
they would have worked harder if more had been demanded
from them.
Findings from The Silent Epidemic
•
47% of dropouts said classes weren’t
interesting
•
43% had missed too many days of school and couldn’t
catch up
• 69% were not motivated to work hard
• 66% would have worked harder if more had been demanded of them
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Before discounting those beliefs, those
same students shared clear views about how to improve
their educational experience.
Recommendations from Drop-Outs
• 71% recommended making school interesting
• 55% said there should be help for students ho
have trouble learning
•
81% called for more “real-world” learning
• 75% wanted smaller classes with more individual
instruction
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The comments from these
dropouts is similar to that reported in other recent
studies. An ASCD Smart Brief described a study
conducted in low-performing schools in Newark,
NJ (Yeung, 2009) where it was found that allowing
students to struggle with challenging math problems
led to improved achievement and results on standardized
tests. A “healthy amount of frustration” was
described by the study as healthy and that this
contributed to student satisfaction with having
struggled and succeeded on the tasks.
Early
in 2009, the Hechinger Institute released its report
on academic rigor in schools.
The report, a collection of articles by noted researchers,
teachers and laypeople, identified advantages to
rigorous learning but also noted “the ‘content
vs. critical thinking’ debate is a false dichotomy” (p.
23). It suggests that these approaches are complementary,
not exclusive.
The
report suggests that rigor has become a “buzz word” with little meaning
academically” (p. 1). The debate over rigor
reflects America’s continuing “tension
between the ideals of academic excellence and universal
access to education” (p. 1).
Many suggest that a more rigorous education
is the solution to our industrial malaise, the solution
to an underprepared workforce, and a necessity for
our future. Sadly, the report concluded that rigor
has become a marketing tool promising all sorts of
benefits from increasing self-esteem to assuring
admission to preferred colleges.
The
High School Alliance, a partnership of fifty organizations
committed to high academic achievement, released a
pair of reports examining rigor in American high schools
(2006a; 2006b). They identified four core principles
of a school with a rigorous program.
Core Principles
• Minimum graduation requirements that prepare
students for college
• High level content and instruction
• Wide range of supports for students to help them
succeed
• Alignment of requirements with post-secondary
education and work
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Most
importantly, the Alliance said that having a rigorous
course title was
not sufficient. “Efforts to increase rigor also
require careful examination of course content to ensure
it is at an appropriately high level, and teaches students
higher order thinking skills” (High School Alliance,
2006b, p. 3). Other efforts recommended by the Alliance
include improved guidance and counseling, individualization
and personalization; academic supports for struggling
students and substantial investment in professional
development and other teacher supports.
Two
Million Minutes, a short but powerful documentary produced
by a PBS station
and available on YouTube and other sites (www.2mminutes.com)
has caught the attention of many educators. It suggests
that as a student completes 8th grade that student
has about two million minutes until high school graduation---two
million minutes that will affect the rest of their
lives. It questions how students spend that time and
what schools can do to assure every student completes
high school with the knowledge, skills and dispositions
for success.
Where to Begin
So, how do you get started? Michael Fullan in his
recent book The Six Secrets of Change (2008)
suggested several
ways that principals could work collaboratively
with teachers and community to improve their
schools.
1. Fullan suggested that
leaders must first love their employees. They must
value the work of their employees and recognize their
important front-line role in improving the educational
experience of students. Further leaders must work diligently
to provide employees with the knowledge and skills
they need to be successful with students. This includes
time for peer interaction about core tasks and opportunity
to continue to learn and develop their capacity as
teachers.
2. Leaders must provide a way to connect their employees
with one another around a shared purpose. Leaders must
identify ways to intentionally create peer interaction.
For example, principals might structure conversations
about student work, around common assessments, or about
ways to provide additional support for students.
3. Attract, recruit and retain talented people. Always
make employment decisions based on the people with
the greatest potential to positively impact students.
Once they are hired, support the professional development
of your teachers individually and collectively. Fullan
suggests that a primary leadership role is to develop
the capacity of every employee.
4. The fourth suggestion from Fullan is that schools
must recognize learning as the primary work of schools.
Activities that detract from this focus on student
learning must be minimized. Additionally, a value must
be placed on helping employees continue to learn and
develop professionally so that they positively impact
the learning of students.
5. Greater transparency in school operations is critical.
That includes openness about results, positive or negative,
and openness about practices that are connected with
success. Principals must find ways to identify and
share those practices that are successful so that they
can be used by other teachers to impact student learning.
6. Finally, a focus must be placed on creating a culture
of leaders, where many people are involved in working
together to improve the school. Fullan suggests that
the most successful leaders are people who recognize
the complexity of schools but lead with humility and
an absolute belief in becoming more effective.
Final Thoughts
We recognize the important role of principals and
teachers in improving the rigor of schools and
classrooms.
We also recognize the complexity of the task and
would like to hear from you about your successes
as well as your challenges. Feel free to contact
Ron at rwmson214@aol.com or Barbara at bcgroup@gmail.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
References
ACT (2006). Reading between the lines: What the
ACT reveals about college readiness in reading. Iowa
City, IA: Author.
Bridgeland, J. M., Dilulio, J. & Morison, K.
(2006). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of
high school dropouts. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises.
Fullan, M. (2008). The Six Secrets of Change. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Hechinger Institute (2009). Understanding and
reporting on academic rigor. New York: Teachers’ College
Press.
National High School Alliance (2006a). Increasing
academic rigor in high schools: Stakeholder perspectives. Washington, DC: Institute for Educational Leadership.
National High School Alliance (2006b). Defining
rigor in high school. Washington, DC: Institute for Educational
Leadership.
Wagner, T. (2008). The Global Achievement Gap. New
York: Basic Books.
Yeung, B. (2009). Struggling helps students’ master
math. Edutopia. Retrieved online at http://www.edutopia.org/math-underachieving-mathnext-rutgers-newark.
| Ron Williamson is a former principal
and currently Professor of Leadership and Counseling
at Eastern
Michigan University. Barbara R. Blackburn is an
Assistant Professor at the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte. They are the co-authors
of The Principalship from A to Z and the forthcoming
Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way,
published by Eye on Education (www.eyeoneducation.com).
Ron and Barbara author a monthly column, Everyday
Leadership, in Principal Leadership magazine published
by NASSP. Ron’s website (www.ronwilliamson.com)
includes additional information about many of the
ideas he describes in this article and Ron may
be reached at rwmson214@aol.com. Barbara may be
reached at bcgroup@gmail.com and her website (www.barbarablackburnonline.com)
includes suggestions for improving rigor in schools. |
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