Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way 

by Ronald Williamson and Barbara Blackburn
(Eye on Education, 2010)

Reviewed by Renee Moore, NBCT
English Teacher (MS)
Teacher Leaders Network


Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way is a follow-up to Barbara Blackburn’s 2008 book, Rigor is Not a Four-Letter Word (see Karen Molter’s review here) and to fully appreciate the points, the books should be studied together. Both authors are former teachers (Williamson is also a former principal) whose educational careers run the gamut from K12 classroom to respected university researchers.

While Blackburn’s first book in this set was aimed at teachers and the classroom level, this book is designed primarily to show school leaders how they can navigate an entire school into a more rigorous culture and support teachers as they increase the level of rigor in their classrooms. The authors acknowledge there are many differing definitions of academic rigor in use today, and give a brief summary of those definitions and the many recent reports calling for more rigor in our schools. For Williamson and Blackburn, the preferred definition of rigor, which came from a practicing school principal, is:

creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels (p.28).

As you might guess from that definition, a great portion of the book is aimed at the role of expectations. Years ago, my teacher-researcher friend Joan Cone did a powerful study entitled “The Gap is in Our Expectations.” In it, she examined what happened when a high school chose to end its ability-based tracking program. The hardest part of their process was getting the  formerly lower-tracked students and the faculty to believe those students could do or would even attempt the same level of work as their peers. This same struggle with mindset, according to the authors, is at the heart of today’s push for academic rigor.

Among the many statistics cited in Rigorous Schools is one that reflects student expectations, or rather how those expectations are not being met. It comes from the 2006 report on high school dropouts, The Silent Epidemic, and notes that “66% of dropouts [said they] would have worked harder [in school] had more been demanded of them.”  The authors also reference a 2009 study of “low performing schools in Newark, NJ…where it was found that allowing students to struggle with challenging math problems led to improved achievement and results on standardized tests.” Williamson and Blackburn go on to openly challenge several myths about rigor, as well as teacher and student responses to it.

The book is full of charts and other tools for administrators to use as they both develop and evaluate rigor within their schools. Much of this material is taken from the first book, to which readers are frequently referred. In this second volume, the focus remains on the role of leadership. Quoting another principal the authors assert, “The school leader is most influential in creating and maintaining a rigorous culture. Without leadership, expectations will wane and outcomes will be mixed at best.”

One key chapter addresses “Ownership and Shared Vision” as a requirement for increasing rigor, as the authors rightfully acknowledge that to be effective and lasting, such a schoolwide shift cannot be a top-down decision nor a technique practiced by a few teachers scattered around the building. Another chapter addresses the role of the school leader as an advocate for the institution, building support from outside the school for a more rigorous culture within it.

The discussion around increasing rigor, particularly at the secondary level, takes on even greater significance as the Obama Administration pushes its goal of every U.S. student graduating from high school "college and career-ready." Many wonder how this can be accomplished given the glaring inconsistencies and inequities in American education today. The authors include a sample advocacy chart of facts from one high school that could be applied to schools and states around the nation; for instance:

“The fastest growing part of the high school curriculum at the moment are AP or college level courses. The fastest growing part of the college curriculum is remedial or high school classes.”

“High school tests [state standardized tests] address content that does not exceed the 9th or 10th grade.”

“15% of our students lose their scholarships at the end of their freshman year [of college], due to low GPA.”

These facts could easily have come from my own community in the Mississippi Delta or hundreds of others across America.

Most of the charts and tools in the book are downloadable from the website, including the PRESS Forward action plan and template to facilitate moving towards a more rigorous school. The book also includes very practical discussions of some of the most challenging details of such a school transformation including grading, scheduling (especially to provide time for teacher collaboration), student support, resistance from stakeholders, and suggestions for shared leadership.

There are several things I like about this book. The ideas that the authors are promoting contrast sharply with the test-prep driven malpractices that are being forced on teachers and students in lower performing schools — practices which we know will ultimately short-circuit true learning and sabotage long term academic accomplishment. Another potential benefit is that open, school-wide discussions about rigor do force us educators to examine our own deeply-rooted prejudices about expectations for different types of students.

I have seen educators hide behind a well-intentioned wall of paternalism towards some groups of students until the possibility of rigor for all is broached. I recommend this book, if not as a guide, certainly as an important discussion starter, for school improvement.

Renee Moore teaches in the rural Mississippi Delta. A former state teacher of the year and Milken Award winner, she serves on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Her blog TeachMoore is featured at the Teacher Leaders Network.