This course is designed to assist administrators in identifying the need for Rigor and Relevance in daily instruction. Administrators will understand the alignment to Common Core State Standards and Marzano’s Framework. Participants will evaluate the current level of Rigor and Relevance at their school and determine steps to improve the level of Rigor.

Duration: 4 weeks
Inservice: 15 points
Audience: Administrators
Access to Students: No

Syllabus

Module 1: What is Rigor and Relevance?
Module 2: Understanding the Rigor and Relevance Framework
Module 3: What does a Rigorous lesson look like?
Module 4: How do interdisciplinary topics tie in with Rigor and Relevance?

Specific Objectives

Participants will:

• develop a definition of Rigor to share with their staff
• Complete the Rigor and Relevance Framework with teachers to evaluate current level
• Identify a lesson with the appropriate level of rigor for students in all content areas

Implementation

Evidence that course content has been transferred to daily instruction might include:

• Learning Gains of an identified group of students.
• Observation in Classroom to identify pre-determined “Look Fors” that demonstrate an effective, rigorous and relevant lesson
• 75% of teachers observed within the school will score Applying level when observed using Design Question 9, Elements 39, 40 and 41 
• Interdisciplinary units in at least 25% of teacher’s lesson plans.

Materials

None

Inservice

• complete all assignments
• participate each week in the Discussion Area
• score at least 80% or higher on post test

To receive the inservice points, all course requirements must be completed independently by the participant and not plagiarized from any other source or person.

Prerequisites

Participants must possess the following computer skills and software to participate in this course:

• an understanding of your computer’s operating system and software
• the ability to access the Internet and knowledge of Internet search techniques
• the ability to download and install files from the Internet
• an up-to-date antivirus software package