© Copyright Tony Wagner, 2006 (first Published in Education Week, January 11, 2006)

Rigor, it seems, is the new reform de jour. As a nation, we appear to have come to a consensus that all children deserve a “challenging and rigorous” education.  The problem is: we have no common agreement about what is “rigor.”  Is it rigorous to require all students to take a “college prep” curriculum, including advanced math?  Are high school Advanced Placement courses the new standard for rigor, as many are now suggesting?

Transforming Education Through 'Communities of Practice'

© Copyright Tony Wagner, 2004 (first published in Education Week, October 27, 2004)

Imagine, for a moment, that you wanted to learn how to play a sport or a musical instrument, but you had never seen the sport or heard the instrument played well, and there were no coaches available. You could only practice in a room all by yourself, day in and day out. How good would you be?

The 7 Disciplines For Strengthening Instruction

© Copyright Tony Wagner, 2003 (first published in Education Week, November 11, 2003)

With the new requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, and high-stakes accountability tests now in nearly every state, education leaders are under unprecedented pressure to improve student performance. The problem is, many don't know what to do that is different from what they have always done.

© Copyright Tony Wagner, 2003 (first published in the Phi Delta Kappan, May 2003)

SINCE THE PASSAGE of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and now that many new state tests have been put in place, a great deal -- and nothing at all -- has changed in the universe of public education. What has changed is the frequency of standardized testing in schools and the consequences for educators and students of not performing well on these tests. What has not changed is the daily reality of teaching and learning for the overwhelming majority of students in America. To better understand how these two realities coexist side by side, let's visit two representative school districts -- Boston and a "good suburban" school district in New York State.