Leading Learning School Site Visits – Assessment of/for Rigor

In support of CSP Goal 3: Motivated, High Performing, Diverse Workforce Outcome B: “Continuous Professional Development and Training,” Leading Learning school site visits are conducted annually. The purpose of the school site visits for SY 2005-2007 is for administrators to practice assessing the level of rigor in classrooms and to collaboratively review what feedback they might provide to the teacher to help increase the rigor in the lesson.  During this two-hour, job-embedded professional development training, principals, assistant principals and the principal-in-residence observe five classrooms in core subject areas and in different grade levels and subsequently  calibrate their findings on the level of rigor observed and the types of descriptive feedback that might be offered to the teacher.  The descriptive feedback would encourage reflection on the part of the teacher and lead to ways for them to increase the rigor of the assigned task.  These classroom visits do not serve as an official observation of a teacher. Rather, the visit acts as the training ground for administrators to analyze the rigor of a task for the purpose of deepening understanding of standards-based instruction and practicing observational and feedback skills. The site visit outcomes are:

• Demonstrate ability to observe and analyze rigor in the classroom. 
• Demonstrate leadership and expertise in giving high quality feedback to teachers to assist them in designing and implementing rigorous lessons and to reflect on their practice in the classroom.
• Demonstrate expertise in conferencing skills that positively influence change in the teacher’s instructional delivery using reflective feedback.

It is paramount that administrators are able to recognize rigor in curriculum areas to ensure students are afforded opportunities to engage in higher level thinking and academic success.  In preparation for the professional development visit, administrators are asked to read the article, “Rigor on Trial” by Tony Wagner, Education Week, January issue, 2006.