This report is the first in a series of reports on teaching and learning in Foundation-supported schools. This report takes a careful look at instruction and students' academic work. In a subset of reforming schools, it examines whether students are exposed to challenging learning opportunities and whether challenging learning opportunities open the door to intellectually complex student work. Samples of the assignments student tackle and the work that they produce are studied. Also examined are the rigor and authenticity of assignments and the quality of the resulting student work. The data are coupled with information from jurisdiction-sponsored standardized tests and data from the broader evaluation. (Contains 23 figures.)