Resources | Coalition of Essential Schools

Asking the Essential Questions: Curriculum Development Sidebars: Essential Questions to Shape a School's CurriculumA Botany Unit Designed Around Essential QuestionsA Project in Factoring for First-Year Algebra StudentsAsking Essential Questions about... April 30, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Curriculum, Exhibitions, Subject Integration, Essential Questions, Student-as-worker

What Makes an Elementary School 'Essential'? Sidebars:Elementary School Networks for ChangeAn Essential Elementary School Explains Itself to Visitors Two Approaches to Knowing Students BetterEssential School Qualities in Other Elementary... March 14, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman

Improving Instruction Through Inquiry and Collaboration (IITIC) Funded by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Southern Maine Partnership and the CES Northwest Center are each working with three local schools to assess and improve classroom instruction.... June 20, 2002 - Peer Coaching, Critical Friends Groups, Looking At Student Work, Teacher Collaboration & Learning

Advisory Program Research and Evaluation This article reviews the research literature to bolster the case for advisory and demonstrate that putting it at the core of a school is worth the investment. Lessons from CES schools also reveal the... December 16, 2004 by Reino Makkonen - Small Learning Communities, Teacher Research, Data Collection & Analysis

Looking Collaboratively at Student Work: An Essential Toolkit Siderbars:Some Guidelines for Learning from Student Work The Collaborative Assessment Conference The Tuning Protocol: A Process for Reflection on Teacher and Student Work The Primary Language... March 15, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Looking At Student Work, Teacher Collaboration & Learning

The Cycle of Inquiry and Action: Essential Learning Communities Sidebars:The Cycle of InquiryKey to Teacher Inquiry: Framing the Question, Planning the ResearchWhat Counts as Data?Three Ways of Looking at a Colleague: Protocols for Peer ObservationReadings... April 19, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Cycle Of Inquiry, Data Collection & Analysis

An American Teacher's View Of British Assessment Practice There are many calls today for a new national assessment and evaluation system in the United States. Some of the resulting proposals incorporate aspects of the British model. For example, the... May 30, 2002 by Marshall Cohen - Assessment

The Digital Portfolio: A Richer Picture of Student Performance What do we really know about a high school graduate's academic career? If we can't talk to the student personally -- and even if we can -- we rely on records. For the most part, a student... May 30, 2002 by David Niguidula - Assessment, Portfolios

Sidebar: Tracking Student Success from
Experimental Schools: The Eight-Year Study
from the 1930's Horace editor note: The following sidebar appeared in an issue of Horace entitled "Taking Stock: How Are Essential Schools Doing?" published in 1991 and available online at... September 12, 2006 - Cycle Of Inquiry, Teacher Research

Fun, Easy, and Effective: Sustained Silent Reading as a High School Practice Recently I gave a tour of Noble High School (NHS) to a visiting teacher. A large rural high school in southern Maine, NHS is divided into three schools-within-a-school called academies. Each academy... June 23, 2008 by Kevin Perks

The Essential School Principal: A Changing Role in a Changing School SidebarPrincipals As Coaches: The Thomson Fellowships A strong principal's convictions and guidance have proved crucial to the lasting success of school change. But how do leaders balance... April 29, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Principal's Role, Developing Leaders, Keeping The Vision

Twittering About Learning: Using Twitter in an Elementary School Classroom Many years ago, when I first started teaching, a colleague showed me a great technique for communicating with families: At the end of the day, she used a 24- by 16-inch chart tablet to produce... July 21, 2009 by Jeff Kurtz - Instruction, Technology And Information Literacy

Making the Good Essential School Better: The Essential Question of Rigor Sidebars:The Tuning Protocol: A Process for Reflection on Teacher and Student WorkIndicators of Classroom ThoughtfulnessWork in Progress: A School's 'Mastery Guidelines' When we put student work... April 29, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Heterogeneous Grouping, Peer Coaching, Looking At Student Work, Teacher Collaboration & Learning

Essential Schools' 'Universal Goals': How Can Heterogeneous Grouping Help? Once we expect every student to meet the highest goals, the reasons weaken for separating classes in ability groups. But what else has to change when schools stop tracking? How can kids so various... March 14, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Learning Structures, Heterogeneous Grouping, Cooperative Learning

Are Advisory Groups 'Essential'? What They Do, How They Work Sidebars:Some Advisory Group ModelsA Friend is DroppedLying: The Choices We MakeThe Broken Code: Churchill's Dilemma at CoventryTerranova: An Extra-Territorial Tale If even one person in a... March 14, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities, Personalization

Developing Curriculum in Essential Schools Sidebars:Widening the Conversation about Curriculum How the ATLAS Communities Structure a Curriculum Balancing Content with Thinking Goals: One Picture of Curriculum Teachers and Students Making... April 23, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Curriculum, Planning Backwards, Subject Integration, Essential Questions, Projects & Units

Essential Leadership in the School Change Process SidebarsReframing Organizational ChangeHow Leaders Can Help a Group Construct New LearningThe Human Face of ChangeRaising Power Issues in Schools: Leadership and the Challenges of EquityWhat... April 29, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Developing Leaders

Ten by Ten: Essential Schools That Exemplify the Ten Common Principles 1 2 3 4 5 6 ref="#7">7 8 9 10 Schools play out the Coalition's Ten Common... April 29, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - The Change Process, Democratic Practice, Common Principles

Sustaining Change: The Struggle to Maintain Identity at Central Park East Secondary School Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) in East Harlem was one of the most highly acclaimed and successful schools to come out of the period of school reform in the 1980s from which the Coalition... December 02, 2009 by Dianne Suiter, Deborah Meier - sustainability

Performance and Exhibitions: The Demonstration of Mastery Sidebars:Qualities of "Authentic Performances"A Final Performance Across the DisciplinesA Final Performance Across the DisciplinesA Final Performance in History and EnglishThe APU Assessment of... April 30, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Assessment, Exhibitions, Using Rubrics

Adventures in Web 2.0: Introducing Social Networking into My Teaching “As new technologies shape literacies, they bring opportunities for teachers at all levels to foster reading and writing in more diverse and participatory contexts.” –“A... July 21, 2009 by Honor Moorman - Instruction, Technology And Information Literacy

Why Small Schools Are Essential Why Small Schools Are Essential Volume 13, Number 3January, 1997 SidebarsWhat Research Has Found About Small SchoolsPhiladelphia's "Small Learning Communities"Why Do Students Do Better in... March 14, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities, Personalization

Innovative School Design for Small Learning Communitites We shape our buildings: thereafter, they shape us. -Sir Winston ChurchillYou have to know a lot or else. -Elliot Washor Radiant streams of sunlight. Wireless networks and handheld computers.... May 28, 2002 by Jill Davidson - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities

Essential School Structure and Design: Boldest Moves Get the Best Results Sidebars:Essential School Design: The "Non-Negotiables"How Does an Essential School Design Play Out the Common Principles?In Answer, Member Schools Are Developing Benchmark DescriptionsThinking... May 06, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities, Scheduling, Heterogeneous Grouping

Digital Portfolios: Documenting Student Growth The digital portfolio process at Camino Nuevo High School (CNHS) offers an essential 21st century skill to our students. All students are trained in basic web design to build and maintain their... December 02, 2009 by Matthew Cramer - Instruction, Technology And Information Literacy

Networks and Essential Schools: How Trust Advances Learning Sidebars: Circles of Support: The Context for Successful School Restructuring The Essential School Network and How It Grew Creating a Network of Schools as Critical Friends: The Fifty Schools... March 15, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Critical Friends Groups, Teacher Collaboration & Learning

"You’re It!": Thoughts on Play and Learning in Schools It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them. - Leo Buscaglia This past... July 22, 2008 by Laura Warner

"So Now What?" Managing the Change Process Sidebars:"Stages of Concern" in One School's Change ProcessOne High Schoo's Consensus Decision-Making ProcessThe School Development Program's "Three-by-Three" Process What Schools Can Learn from... April 23, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - The Change Process, Decision Making Processes

Using Time Well: Schedules in Essential Schools Sidebars:Basic "4 by 4" semester block schedule.Intensive foreign language acquisition using the "4 by 4" semester block schedule. Three 100-minute classes a day on alternating days year-long.... March 14, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Learning Structures, Scheduling

Beyond Looking: Using Data to Coach for Instructional Improvement For several years, Judy (a special education teacher who works with students in math and science goals) sat through staff meetings at which the PowerPoint slides containing the results of our... June 01, 2009 by Michael Martin, Katherine Taylor - Data Collection & Analysis, Cycle Of Inquiry

Four Essential Elements of School Design When we at the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) talk about "school design," we refer not to the physical design of the school building (though that also deserves attention), but to decisions... March 14, 2002 by Kathy Simon - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities, Scheduling, Heterogeneous Grouping, Peer Coaching

How Friends Can Be Critical As Schools Make Essential Changes Sidebars:Among Friends: Norms for Inquiry and Analysis Essential Tools in the Trek Toward ChangeSome Principles for Planning Effective School Visits A Teacher's Tool for Observing Peers in the... March 15, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Peer Coaching, Critical Friends Groups, Teacher Collaboration & Learning

Making Math Personal: Meaning in Mathematics for Teachers and Students When mathematics students and teachers are able to deepen their relationships with the curriculum and with each other, they are more likely to teach and learn in ways that promote sustained,... April 02, 2004 by Jill Davidson - Instruction, Personalization, Student-as-worker, Cooperative Learning

What's Essential? Integrating the Curriculum in Essential Schools Sidebars: What Should Students Know and Be Able to Do?The Study of Markets Links English and Social StudiesStudents as Scientists: Curriculum that Collaborates with the CommunityLinking High... April 30, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Curriculum, Subject Integration, Essential Questions

Moral Questions in the Classroom: How to Get Kids to Think Deeply About Real Life and Their School Work The book review that follows was written many weeks before the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Those events, I believe, highlight the importance of exploring hard questions in our... May 28, 2002 by Kathy Simon - Curriculum, Essential Questions

What Good Schools Do When Their Students Don't Do Well Sidebars:Retention May Backfire, the Research CautionsAt This Summer School, Teachers Learn TooA Network to Help Out Mentor ProgramsBoosting Achievement by Reporting It BetterHow Do Kids See Their... May 10, 2002 - Instruction, Personalization

Behavior in a Thoughtful School: The Principle of Decency Sidebar:A Model for Student Decision Making How people in a school behave to each other - in classrooms, halls, central office and faculty lounge - sets a tone that has profound effects on what... April 29, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Classroom Culture

A Caring Adult in a Different Setting In schools where people know each other well and focus on supporting academic and personal growth, meaningful relationships blossom in offices, in the library, on the basketball court, or in the... March 17, 2011 by Gary Heyder

College Admissions and the Essential School Sidebars:What Competency-Based Admission Can Achieve What Harvard Wants: Habits of Mind Pennsylvania Colleges Ask for 'Habits of Mind'Defining Readiness for College: SUNY's Expectations Giving... April 30, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Assessment, Alternative Transcripts

Essential School Pathways: Connecting Across Grades Sidebars:What is a School Pathway?How Can Pathways Move Innovation Into the Mainstream?Elementary Schools Form Networks for ChangePathway Summer: Teachers Try Out New Practices Across the... April 29, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Learning Structures

Discourse Time! Developing Argumentative Literacy in the Math Classroom Mike Schmoker, author of Results Now, articulates that “generous amounts of reading, writing, and argument are all essential to the development of truly literate and educated students.” Moving... February 29, 2008 by David Singer - Curriculum

Through Our Eyes I am a dancer. A teacher. An improviser. My pedagogy is centered on the concept of embodied education, a model that invites students to bring their whole bodies to the learning experience. I invite... July 21, 2009 by Sara Narva - Instruction, Technology And Information Literacy

What's Out There? Curricula that Support Essential School Ideas Sidebars:How to Analyse a Curriculum Unit or ProjectChallenging Children to Learn, and MoreMath Programs The College Board Sets a New, Demanding Pace for the Majority Systematic Portfolio... April 23, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Curriculum, Subject Integration, Problem-based Learning, Projects & Units

Steps in Planning Backwards: Early Lessons from the Schools A number of schools within the Coalition of Essential Schools have begun to explore a strategy of schoolkeeping called "planning backwards." It takes aim at the dailiness of schooling -- that... April 29, 2002 by Joe McDonald - Assessment, Planning Backwards

School Design: An Architect's View Architect and educator Jeffery A. Lackney, Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, created "Thirty-Three Principles of Educational Design" to focus... May 28, 2002 by Jeffrey A. Lackney - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities

Exhibitions: Demonstrations of Mastery in Essential Schools What is an exhibition? This issue of Horace features reflection, analysis, critique, description, and arguments from six Essential school educators. Their work provides compelling examples of how... January 28, 2008 by Jill Davidson - Assessment, Exhibitions

Longitudinal Research Indicates
CES Graduate Collegiate Success Graduates are among the most valuable sources of information for schools committed to developing educational programs that make an enduring difference in students' lives. Schools often gather... September 12, 2006 by Jill Davidson - Teacher Research

Information, Literacy, and the Essential School Library Sidebars:What Students Shuld Be Able to DoPitfalls of Library AssignmentsSearching, Synthesizing, Analyzing in the 21st Century 'Stacks'How to Conduct a Boolean SearchWeaving the Library Program... April 30, 2002 by Kathleen Cushman - Instruction, Technology And Information Literacy