The Texas Coalition of Essential Schools is committed to assisting schools in creating an intellectual atmosphere in which instruction is personalized and students are enabled to take charge of their own learning. Our goal is that each student leaves school with the ability to think, question and reason. To support this work, we work to support the efforts of schools and districts to begin the work of system wide change and instructional improvement with the student as the benefactor of the work. Using the ten common principles, we support schools in meeting the state standards through creating a classroom atmosphere and a school climate that requires an intellectual rigor, imagination, and freshness.
Services/Strategies:
Restructuring schools around the common principles to close the achievement gap among students
Designing authentic assessment to demonstrate instructional rigor
Creating curriculum grounded in essential questions and tied to Texas standards
Aligning external standards and assessments with CES Common Principles
Infusing inquiry into professional development activities
Building regional capacity to sustain school reform
Developing effective public engagement programs
Instituting protocols to effectively examine student work and accomplishments
Assisting superintendents and principals in designing schools with the Habits of Mind as the focus for a learning community
