PERICLES: Protocol for Evaluation of Rigor in Curricular Lesson Expectations

• In Event: Curriculum as a Means of Improving Teaching

Abstract

Teachers receive myriad expectations regarding their practice, and these can be very difficult to navigate, especially for novice teachers. One source of these expectations is curriculum, on which districts spend billions of dollars a year. Ideally, these curricula would be establishing expectations for rigorous teaching practices which foster students’ conceptual understanding and are thus aligned with other expectations for ambitious instruction. However, the connection between curricular expectations for rigor and enacted ambitious instruction is yet, unestablished. This study will examine the efficacy of a tool to measure rigor in curricular lesson plans using elements of ambitious instruction, and examine the associations between the expectations for rigor set by curricula and enactment of these lessons in the classroom by novice teachers.

Authors

• Rachel L van Aswegen, University of Virginia

• Alexa Miller Quinn, James Madison University

• Peter A. Youngs, University of Virginia