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Summer Institute 2005: Reflections
Over 250 teachers, school administrators, students and parents attended CES Small Schools Project's Summer Institute 2005! Tacoma's University of Puget Sound was full of educators, students and parents from conversion schools, mentor schools, and school design teams that came from as far as Devens, Massachusets and as near as Sea Tac, Washington. They came from diverse settings that range from New York City to Memphis, Tennessee to Hilo, Hawaii. It is this diversity that makes the CES Small Schools Project such a strong and powerful learning community.
Yee-Ann Cho, Senior Program Officer for Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Liz Murray, a child of drug addicts and the inspiration for Lifetime's Homeless to Harvard, kicked off the Institute. Ms. Cho provided a framework to understand the extended work that needs to be done in education reform. Liz Murray captivated the audience with her tale of an unstable family, homelessness and finally a new beginning at CES Mentor School Humanities Prep that led her to Harvard and then on to a successful life. Ms. Murray provided the inspiration to believe that change is possible and the kind of education that CES small schools provide is critical.
 The Institute was a week of dedicated work. During team time, the new school design and conversion teams had the opportunity to sit with mentor schools and CES coaches and tackle real issues. The workshops provided useful skills and tools to the participants that will be applied at home.
Among the most useful and well appreciated workshops were "Small School Planning & Design: Mission-driven Strategic Planning with Students at the Center" presented by Empowerment High School, "Creating Collaborative Learning Communities for Adults in Small Schools" by CES Northwest, and "Habits of Mind and Heart: Frameworks for Learning, Assessment and Student Awareness" presented by Wildwood School.
Mixed in with all the work was time for fun. Social activities consisted of everything from movie night to the very delightful dinner cruise to a late night "boys against girls" game of Taboo.
 In addition to participating with the larger group, the students worked amongst themselves learning from each other, assessing their roles in their schools and attempting to carve a role for students in the larger CES network. They presented their findings at the closing with specific requests and needs in order to increase student voice at their schools as well as in the network at large. Among these suggestions were the creation of CES student committees at the schools, increased student involvement in teacher hiring, the creation of a CES student blog site where students can post successful student leadership models, and the establishment of communication lines to keep students connected to the network.
Along with the students, Tom Vander Ark, Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, closed the Institute. Mr. Vander Ark addressed the participants, praising their work as educators and underlining the importance of education reform not just for the children but for society as a whole.
Thanks to all for making this a successful and productive Summer Institute!
Page last updated: July 27, 2005
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