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Selection Criteria for Conversion Schools

CES schools share a common set of beliefs about the purpose and practice of schooling, known as the CES Common Principles. Based on decades of research and practice, the principles call for all schools to offer:

• Personalized and intellectually vibrant instruction to address individual needs and interests
• Small schools and classrooms, where teachers and students know each other well and work in an atmosphere of trust and high expectations
• Multiple assessments based on performance of authentic tasks
• Democratic and equitable school policies and practice
• Close partnerships with the school's community

Selected large school conversion teams in partnership with a CES regional center will demonstrate their potential to fully implement the CES Common Principles as measured by indicators delineated in the Benchmarks.

Selection will also be based on a number of other factors. We are looking for large school/regional center teams that:

• Are made up of a diverse group of stakeholders
• Have the internal resources and capacity to successfully recreate the large school into multiple small schools
• Demonstrate a successful previous working relationship between the school and CES regional center
• Have a viable plan for assigning contiguous space to all of the future small schools
• Clearly articulate the needs that the new schools will address, the populations to be served, and articulate a compelling overall mission and concept for the conversion
• Are able to leverage local resources and support
• Are situated in regions and districts where favorable conditions exist that would ensure success
• Demonstrate support from the school district for the conversion of the large school to small schools, including commitment to ensuring the autonomy of the new schools in the areas of staffing, professional development, curriculum, scheduling and budget
• Articulate the team's mission, vision and alignment with CES's philosophy of schooling.

Finally, a combination of factors including student demographics, geographical location, and district/local capacity, will inform CES's decision. Through this project, we are committed to meeting the needs of young people and communities that have traditionally been educationally underserved; the majority of our grantees will be school/center teams that primarily serve students of color and students from low-income families. Most of the schools will also be located in urban areas. While maintaining these commitments, we are also seeking a diverse pool of schools; therefore, the selection of individual teams will be informed by the overall balance of the cohort. For example, we would not want all of the new schools to be located in the same geographic region.

For further information on selection criteria for conversion schools, please contact Laura Flaxman or Mara Benitez, Co-Directors of the Small Schools Project.