A leader in Midland, Texas, works with an Instructional Empowerment Coach on increasing rigor in classrooms.
The Activating Rigor series addresses a critical question: Why aren’t all students experiencing deeper learning and rigor, even with a high-quality curriculum in place?
A strong curriculum is essential, but your model of instruction ultimately determines the impact of curriculum. Even the best materials won’t transform learning if instruction remains rooted in a traditional teacher-directed model, where students passively receive information instead of deeply engaging with it.
The Applied Research Center has identified the teacher-directed model as the most prevalent approach to curriculum implementation in classrooms today. This traditional model is often characterized by:
- Low rigor: Focus on memorization and recall that covers the content at a surface level only. Students have limited opportunities for critical thinking and reasoning.
- Low engagement: Heavy reliance on lectures, worksheets, and independent practice with few opportunities for collaborative deeper learning. When there is a class discussion, typically only a handful of students participate.
- Low agency: Lack of opportunities for students to take ownership of their learning within a structure. Students are often overly dependent on the teacher for support.
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To fully realize the impact of your rigorous curriculum, instruction must shift to a student-led model of instruction.
In this series, we explore what rigorous curriculum implementation looks like across different subject areas—and why the model of instruction matters. You will see concrete examples of standards-based tasks in both teacher-directed and student-led classrooms to compare their impact.
Explore the series below and discover insights to bring rigor and engagement to your district. Subscribe for more research-based approaches that will change the way you think about rigor, engagement, and deeper learning.
Read the Series
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About Instructional Empowerment
Our mission is to end generational poverty and eliminate achievement gaps through redesigned rigorous Tier 1 Instruction that ensures deeper learning for ALL students.
