Rigorous instruction for all students is required in the Common Core and possible in every classroom, school and district. Our resources guide you on how to make advanced material equally accessible to all students, regardless of background or performance level.
Our resources on Rigor coach you on how to implement rigorous instruction in relevant and rewarding ways in your classrooms and throughout your school. We support all learners and have a dual focus on engaging and challenging advanced learners while, at the same time, motivating struggling students to master rigorous content.
Webinars and Tutorials
Our library of free webinars features an hour-long discussion on How to Plan Rigorous Instruction.
Or, watch our shorter tutorial on how to plan a rigorous unit for the Common Core.
How to Plan Rigorous Instruction provides valuable worksheets, planning templates and strategies to help you create more rigorous lesson plans— including selecting better content, implementing powerful instructional strategies, and creating and administering meaningful assessments.
Learn more in our Mastering the Principles of Great Teaching Series, a how-to series that focuses the 7 mastery principles introduced in Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching.
Staff Development Kits
Our Planning Rigorous Lessons Staff Development Kit reveals the four stages of rigor, demonstrates how to help students successfully move through the stages and to learn material in a more rigorous way.
Workshops & Keynotes
Do you want to bring the Mindsteps approach to rigor to your district? We offer multiple workshops on rigor — hitting on such topic as how to help all students access and be successful in rigorous learning environments, developing rigorous units around Common Core Standards and rigorous instruction strategies. We also feature workshops for Instructional Leaders.
Need to address a larger audience? Let us provide one of our rigor-themed keynote presentations on such topics as overcoming resistance to rigor. We can also customize our topics to meet your needs.