An effort-based school replaces the assumption that aptitude determines what and how much students learn with the belief that sustained and directed effort can yield high achievement for all students. Everything in the classroom experience is organized to send the message that effort is expected and that tough problems yield to sustained work. High minimum standards are set and assessments are geared to the standards.

High expectations are communicated clearly in ways that become embedded in the thinking of school professionals, parents, the community and, above all, students themselves. Descriptive criteria and models of work that meet standards are publicly displayed, and students refer to these displays to analyze and discuss their work.

If we expect students to put forth sustained effort over time, we need to use assessments that students find fair. Fair evaluations are those for which students can prepare: therefore, tests, exams, and classroom assessments, as well as the curriculum, must be aligned to the standards. Fair assessment also means grading against absolute standards rather than on a curve, so students can clearly see the results of their learning efforts. Assessments that meet these criteria provide parents, colleges, and employers with credible evaluations of what individual students know and can do.

Clear recognition of authentic accomplishment is a hallmark of an effort-based school: this includes celebrations of work that meets standards or intermediate progress benchmarks en route to the standards. Progress points should be articulated so that, regardless of entering performance level, every student can meet real accomplishment criteria often enough to be recognized frequently. Student accomplishment is also recognized when performance on standards-based assessments is related to opportunities at work and in higher education.

Knowledge and thinking are intimately joined. This implies a curriculum organized around major academic concepts that students are expected to know deeply. Teaching engages students in active reasoning about these concepts. In every subject, at every grade level, instruction and learning includes commitment to a knowledge core, high thinking demand, and active use of knowledge.

For classroom talk to promote learning it must be accountable to the learning community, to accurate and appropriate knowledge, and to rigorous thinking.

Intelligence is a set of problem-solving and reasoning capabilities joined with the habits of mind that lead one to use those capabilities regularly. It is also a set of beliefs about one's right and obligation to understand and make sense of the world, and one's capacity to figure things out over time.