The most important element of student success?
How should we assess how much students are learning? Veteran educator Joanne Yatvin takes a new look in the following post. Yatvin, past president of the National Council of Teachers of English, now teaches part-time at Portland State University.
By Joanne Yatvin
Not long ago I wrote a post condemning rigor in education and hailing vigor as the most important element of student success. Unfortunately, I used dictionary definitions and metaphors and gave only sketchy examples of vigorous learning activities to make my case. This time I want to be more factual and descriptive to let readers know what reformers mean when they call for more rigor and what good teachers mean by vigor.
Looking at the recommendations of policy makers, the widely adopted Common Core