​Academic Rigor is based on expectations established for students and staff that ensure that students demonstrate a thorough in-depth mastery of challenging and complex curricular concepts. In every subject, at every grade level, instruction and learning must include commitments to a knowledge core and the application of that knowledge core to solve complex real-world problems. Rockdale County Public Schools believes that the mastery of challenging and meaningful content must be our goal for all students. Whether they are performing at, below, or above the levels of their age peers, all students deserve an education that challenges them just above their current levels of development.

• Academic rigor means setting high expectations for students with challenging instructional practices. It should also include time for saturation through hands-on exploration that will lead to application of concepts and skills learned.
• Academic rigor means students should be able to read a variety of materials and comprehend them for literal and inferential information. They should have a way to communicate in written expression that is sufficient enough for them to be able to be successful in life.
• Academic rigor is challenging students with higher level skills. Teachers should expect students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate material as opposed to simply having student memorize the basics.
• Academic rigor occurs when students actively explore, research, and solve complex problems.
• Academic rigor is when teachers expect mastery of content using application of learned skills and critical thinking. The students observe, investigate, collect data, think, reason, and draw conclusions through hands-on, inquiry-based science education. The inquiry-based education leads to asking questions and making discoveries. The students also learn to communicate using a variety of methods.
• Academic rigor is having academics that are challenging and rigorous to all levels of students.
• Academic rigor means working on projects that are relevant to the standards that also provide challenges to the students' thinking. It is stretching the student to think about tasks at hand and use individual ideas that incorporate acquired skills and knowledge.
• Academic rigor should become the norm, not just a section of the curriculum, but be integrated into the learning environment.