Teacher and Student Perceptions of Rigor and Relevance in Grades 6-8

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive study was to examine the presence ofrigor and relevance of instruction as perceived by teachers and students in one middleschool in District X in Northeast Kansas. The sample included 565 middle schoolstudents and 40 teachers who responded to the WE Teach ™ and WE Learn™ surveys,designed by Daggett (2011), and administered during the 2017-2018 school year. Rigorand relevance were defined by the survey statements.In terms of rigor, all but three of the 19 concepts were perceived by teachers asbeing used in their classrooms. For three concepts, the results were unclear. Students’perceptions of rigor in the classroom indicated that they observe all but three of the 18rigor concept statements used in their classroom. Three survey items were reverse coded.In terms of relevance, of the 13 statements teachers perceived all but one waspresent in their classroom. For 14 of 15 statements related to relevance, students agreedwith or strongly agreed the presence of relevance in instruction in the classroom. Therewere no reverse coded items in the relevance survey section.In addition, the extent to which there were differences in teacher and studentperceptions about the presence of rigor and relevance was studied. The results of thecomparison of the survey data were mixed regarding rigor and relevance. For someresponses teacher and student responses regarding the presence of rigor and relevancewere similar, while other responses differed. In terms of rigor, the differences betweenteacher and student responses about the five concepts were more extensive and thedifferences in the responses. These concepts included choice in how students showunderstanding of their learning, when they struggle in class students receive help, passing the state test is the number one priority, teaching what students already know, andstudents are encouraged to think for themselves. Three concepts were less extensive.Teacher and student responses on two concepts were unclear. In terms of relevance,teacher and student responses were analyzed for the nine statements related to relevancethat were determined to be matched conceptually. Theses relevance concepts includedthat students are encouraged to explore things they find interest and that students canapply what they learn in class or in school to their everyday lives. The differences inthree concepts with more extensive differences and the difference in one concept wereless extensive. Five concepts were not statistically significant.Additional studies should be conducted to determine the relationship betweenperceptions of the presence of rigor and relevance in instruction, which were studied inthis research and actual achievement. Future studies should also determine the impact ofchanges implemented, as a result of the survey data, such as professional development onthe Rigor/Relevance Framework and teacher learning opportunities related to rigor andrelevance instructional strategies. Additionally, future research should be conducted onthe two areas from the WE Teach™ and WE Learn™ surveys not examined in this study,relationships and leadership, to determine teacher and student perceptions and thecomparison of these perceptions.