Rigor Shouldn't Lead to Mortis

There's more to rigorous instruction than "harder" and "more."

The Challenge

Once upon a time, I attended a meeting of Chicago teachers, back when Arne Duncan was CEO of the public school system there. He was advocating a new plan for a standardized but somewhat decentralized curriculum (schools could select programs from a menu of approved vendors), and he was talking up how this plan would increase academic rigor.…