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Home > About CES > Results for Kids
Students Thrive in Schools that Promote Intellectual Rigor and Personalize Learning
A Report on the Coalition of Essential Schools' Work with Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) Schools in Ohio, Maine, Massachusetts and Michigan
Introduction
The Coalition of Essential Schools promotes a vision of schooling in which students engage in in-depth and rigorous learning. CES schools select a small number of core skills and areas of knowledge that they expect all students to demonstrate and exercise broadly across content areas. While all students are expected to achieve the same goals, teachers strive to shape instruction in order to meet individual students' unique strengths and needs. This approach to teaching and learning – setting high standards while personalizing instruction – results in increased student achievement and equitable outcomes on a variety of measures.
This report features vignettes documenting a variety of ways in which students thrive academically in CES schools where teachers create challenging opportunities and offer personalized support. In addition, the report presents evidence that such learning environments also result in increased student achievement on traditional measures. The study focuses on 22 schools in Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Maine that selected CES as their Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) model, received 1998 awards, and began implementing their CSRD grants during 1999-2000. These schools typically serve students who start out with low standardized test scores, come from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, and live in poverty. All 22 schools received formal professional development and on-site coaching from the CES regional center in their states. The centers are: The Center for Essential School Reform in Ohio; Michigan Coalition of Essential Schools; the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston; and the Southern Maine Partnership in Gorham, Maine.
Summary of Methods and Results
CES National collected school level data about student performance on standardized tests from the four states' Department of Education web sites. Of the 22 schools, 19 schools' scores were available on their states' websites. We compare student achievement data from these CES CSRD schools with state-wide averages and with averages from all other schools that received CSRD funding beginning in 1999-2000, but which worked with other school reform organizations. The data from these two comparison groups allow us to analyze student achievement in CES CSRD schools in the context of the achievement trends within their states. We analyzed test score data from a total of 17 tests in the subjects of mathematics, reading and writing. In some cases, the data were sufficient to make reasonable claims about the progress achieved by schools. In others, the data allowed us to make initial observations but were insufficient to provide a complete picture.
Here’s what you'll see in the test score data:
- The percentage of students in CES CSRD schools passing state achievement tests increased substantially from the initial year of testing.
- CES CSRD schools are making significant progress in closing the gap between the percentage of their students who are passing and the state average of students passing the tests. On four tests in two states, CES CSRD schools not only narrowed the gap but also surpassed the state averages.
In addition to analyzing standardized test scores, our research team also interviewed "coaches" – CES regional staff people working with individual schools – about changes they observed in the schools' practices over the course of the CSRD grants. In addition, we collected a wide range of documents from the schools that further demonstrate how the schools changed classroom practices, leadership practices, school design features, and relationships with the community in order to improve outcomes for student.
Go to:
Vignette One - Ohio report
Vignette Two - Maine report
Vignette Three - Michigan report
Vignette Four - Massachusetts report
CES Services: CES Support for CSR Schools
CES regional centers provide intensive support for schools interested in adopting CES as their CSR Model in four areas: School Design; Classroom Practice; Leadership; and Community Connections. All CES regional centers’ programs seek to support schools' implementation of CES' core principles. However, CES does not promote a cookie-cutter approach to school reform. Therefore, CES regional centers develop deep knowledge of schools, teachers and principals through extensive use of on-site coaching from the outset, tailor their work with schools accordingly, and continually assess schools' growth and development as they work together.
Schools seeking to partner with CES regional centers through the CSR initiative in their states can expect to receive both on-site coaching and formal professional development. More specifically, the regional centers typically offer 18 to 45 days of on-site coaching annually, depending on school size, and provide formal seminars on increasing student achievement and promoting equity for leadership teams, principals and interested staff members. In addition, they identify high implementing CES schools both locally and nationally that school teams can visit as they think through how they want to redesign their school's structure, curriculum, and pedagogy. Regional centers’ support is supplemented by CES National initiatives including: Fall Forum, our annual conference; Horace, our quarterly journal; our web-site which publishes resources related to our network; and CES University, a professional development opportunity.
For more information about the services provided to CSR schools by CES regional centers, see center websites
Conclusion
Schools working with CES regional centers through the CSR initiative made significant progress in offering more rigorous and individualized learning opportunities for students. Teachers collaborated with each other, parents, and administrators to ensure that no kids fall through the cracks and to explore strategies for improving instruction. These changes in classroom and school practice paid off. In all four states highlighted in this report, we see evidence of powerful student performance on authentic assessments that demand real-world skills and applications and student gains on achievement tests.
Page last updated: November 26, 2002
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