Rigor by Design, Not Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment

A practical and systematic approach to deepening student engagement, promoting a growth mindset, and building a classroom culture that truly supports thinking and learning.
Every student deserves access to deep and rigorous learning. Still, some persistent myths about rigor can get in the way—such as the belief that it means more or harder work for everyone, rather than challenging and advancing students' thinking. So how can teachers get more clarity on rigor and foster more meaningful learning in their classrooms

In Rigor by Design, Not Chance, veteran educator Karin Hess offers not only a clear vision of what makes learning deep and rigorous but also a systematic and equitable approach for engaging students of all ages in rich learning tasks. To that end, she outlines five essential teacher moves that foster thinking and learning:

1. Ask a series of probing questions of increasing complexity.
2. Build schemas in each content area.
3. Consider ways to strategically scaffold learning.
4. Design complex tasks that emphasize transfer and evidence-based solutions.
5. Engage students in metacognition and reflection throughout the learning process.

From there, Hess details how to create an "actionable" assessment cycle that will drive learning forward in any classroom.
This book offers a treasure trove of strategies, student "look-for" behaviors, and templates to guide teachers in their work as well as an array of rich performance-based assessments to engage and challenge students. School leaders and instructional coaches can also benefit from the variety of teacher-friendly supports to foster rigorous learning in their schools. Ultimately, Rigor by Design, Not Chance helps educators empower students to take greater ownership of their own learning.

Karin Hess, EdD, is founder and president of Educational Research in Action and author of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices. She is a former classroom teacher and school administrator with more than 40 years of experience in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. She is an internationally recognized leader in applying the concepts of cognitive rigor, depth of knowledge, and learning progressions to the design and development of state and school-based curriculum and assessment systems. An expert in multiple content areas, she specializes in the design and use of performance-based assessments for preK–12 students.

At the Center for Assessment in Dover, New Hampshire, Hess led the development of multistate K–12 standards and designed general and special education large-scale state assessments. Previously, she worked as New Jersey's State Director for Gifted Education, a program evaluator for the Vermont Mathematics Project, and a developer and editor of K–8 performance tasks for Science Exemplars (www.exemplars.com). She has provided technical expertise to EL Education, Renaissance Learning, the Mathematics Advisory Team for Achieve3000, and the Critical Thinking Advisory Team for Mentoring Minds, as well as to the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) consortium in revising the 2020 English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework.

Hess has authored or coauthored more than a dozen education books. Most recently, she authored A Local Assessment Toolkit to Promote Deeper Learning (Corwin, 2018), codeveloped Benchmark Education's Ready to Advance curriculum for prekindergarten (2019), and coauthored, with Rose Colby and Dan Joseph, Deeper Competency-Based Learning: Making Equitable, Student-Centered, Sustainable Shifts (Corwin, 2020).

In her work with schools, Hess provides practical, classroom-tested tools and in-depth guidance for implementing competency-based educational systems and strategies to enhance deeper learning for every student.