Teaching What Matters Most

Crafting a set of standards that are at once manageable, attainable, and good for all students has been elusive. With 10 years of research and work in more than 300 schools to guide them, Strong, Silver, and Perini offer four standards that will help all students meet the various standards dictated by states, regions, and districts.

Rigor: helping students make sense of challenging texts and ideas.

Thought: helping students become adept users of powerful learning disciplines.

Diversity: helping students understand themselves and others.

Authenticity: helping students apply what they learn to the real world.

In this book, the authors go beyond simply showing what each standard looks like in various school settings. They provide research-based teaching strategies that can help all students meet each standard along with assessment practices that allow schools and teachers to respond thoughtfully to the diversity of students' needs.

Drawing from the work of educators across the country, the book demonstrates that manageable standards-when married to practical approaches to instruction and assessment-can prepare students to perform well on state tests while preserving the democratic traditions of U.S. education.