A 1998 baseline study found typical Chicago assignments were mostly rudimentary basic-skills exercises, but most students completed the more demanding tasks they were given¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2000 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The prior baseline report found typical assignments consisted largely of simple drill and fill-in-the-blank practice, while students mostly succeeded on the more demanding tasks teachers did assign. → Anthony S. Bryk 2000

Evidence¶

Anthony S. Bryk 2000¶

Anthony S. Bryk, Jenny K. Nagaoka, and Fred M. Newmann. (2000). Chicago Classroom Demands for Authentic Intellectual Work: Trends from 1997-1999. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/chicago-classroom-demands-authentic-intellectual-work-trends-1997-1999

q2 · i? · associational · r2

This brief summarizes the 1996-1997 baseline report (Newmann, Lopez, and Bryk, 1998), which found assignments were mostly simple drill and fill-in-the-blank practice; it also reports that "most students were able to com- plete them and demonstrate more complex intellectual performance."

"However on a more encouraging note, we found that when teachers did assign more demand- ing classroom tasks, most students were able to com- plete them and demonstrate more complex intellectual performance."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The intellectual quality of classroom assignments in Annenberg Challenge schools improved between 1997 and 1999, though some 1999 averages were lower than 1998 — related
• A majority of writing and mathematics assignments in 12 Chicago Annenberg schools fell into the lowest two challenge categories — related
• Assignments teachers designated as challenging tended to score higher on intellectual quality than typical assignments — related
• Intellectually Ambitious Instruction Is Associated with Improved Student Learning Across Populations — related
• In a purposive sample of Chicago schools, both high- and low-prior-achieving students who received more intellectually demanding assignments made larger test-score gains — related