Resources | Coalition of Essential Schools

Review: And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students by Miles Corwin (Harper Perennial, 432 pages, $14.00) Miles Corwin was moved to write And Still We Rise when he... February 07, 2008 by Eva A. Frank

Where to Go for More on Exhibitions and Demonstrations of Mastery FairTest The National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) is among the nation’s leading opponents of high stakes standardized testing and its current (mis)use. In addition to leading the... February 07, 2008 - Assessment, Exhibitions

More About the Schools Featured in this Issue Schools Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School 49 Antietam Street Devens, Massachusetts 01434 phone: 978.772.3293 www.parker.org Greenfield Center School 71 Montague City... February 07, 2008 - Assessment, Exhibitions

National Exhibition Month - May 2007! Join the Coalition of Essential Schools in a nation-wide campaign to promote and celebrate exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment. CES National has designated the month of May as... February 07, 2008 by Brett Bradshaw

Where's Your School on the Exhibitions Continuum CES has identified four phases of exhibitions implementation among Essential schools. The schools represented in this issue of Horace are implementing exhibitions systemically; their stories provide... February 07, 2008

Beyond Reform: Transformation “Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one person can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills, misery, ignorance, and violence. Few will have the greatness to bend... February 15, 2008 by Jill Davidson - Community Collaboration

The Belmont Zone of Choice: Community-Driven Action for School Change During the summer of 2006, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and union officials announced that the Pico Union area of East Los Angeles would soon be home to the Belmont Zone of Choice... February 15, 2008 by Jeremy Nesoff - Community Collaboration

In the Midst of Transformation: Reflections from the Bay Area Coalition For Equitable Schools I recently attended a national conference where hundreds of educators, parents, policy makers, and community leaders gathered to discuss innovative ways to ensure that high school students in this... February 15, 2008 by LaShawn Route-Chatmon - Community Collaboration

Acing the Art of Transformation: Change on the ACE Campus Walk into any one of the classrooms at the Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment at the Tyee Educational Complex and you will see students writing intensely. You will hear them discussing their... February 15, 2008 by Carrie Howell - Community Collaboration

From Big to Small: An Essential Transformation It’s obvious I wouldn’t be the student or person I’ve developed into if my traditional high school didn’t become a small school. When I envision myself as a senior in a traditional high... February 15, 2008 by Donna Dockter - Community Collaboration

Searching for Coherence “For every complicated problem, there is a solution that is direct, understandable, and wrong.” – H. L Mencken We have overwhelming data that while our nation’s high schools serve... February 15, 2008 by Rick Lear - Community Collaboration

Coaching as a Transformative Force At schools that align with the Common Principles, there’s often a palpable sense of high expectations, personalization, and the purpose of school as a place for students to use their minds well. As... February 19, 2008 by Shug Brandell - Community Collaboration

Engaging the Disengaged: How Schools Can Help Struggling Students Succeed Engaging the Disengaged: How Schools Can Help Struggling Students Succeed by Lois Brown Easton (Corwin Press, 304 pages, $37.95) Far too many young people sit in classes disengaged; far too many... February 19, 2008 by Dan Condon - Learning Structures

Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade by Linda Perlstein (Henry Holt, 320 pages, $25.00) Tested immerses us in a year at an alleged NCLB success story, Annapolis, Maryland’s... February 19, 2008 by Jill Davidson

Where to Go for More: Resources for Educational Transformation CES National Affiliate CentersThe central presence of several Coalition of Essential Schools National Affiliate Centers – the Center for Collaborative Education, the Los Angeles Small Schools... February 19, 2008

Go To The Source: More about the Schools and Other Organizations Featured in this Issue Schools Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment 4424 S 188th Street SeaTac, Washington 98188 telephone: 206.433.2342 www.hsd401.org/ourschools/highschools/ace Civitas School of... February 19, 2008

How Much Is Learned When We’re Not Looking: The Promise of CES Elementary Schools In the mid-1980s, I discovered the soon-to-be-Coalition of Essential Schools as I was contemplating starting a secondary school in East Harlem, a follow-up to our successful little network of... February 21, 2008 by Deborah Meier - Instruction

Making Sense of The Principles: A Portfolio from Greenfield Center School When we work on goal setting at Greenfield Center School (GCS), we have a practice of showing what the relationships, interaction, teaching practices, and evidence of learning look and sound like.... February 21, 2008 by Laura Baker - Assessment, Portfolios

Never Arrive: Teachers Reflect on A CES Elementary School What is a Coalition elementary school? In the Chesapeake Coalition of Essential Schools network, each of our schools has made meaning of the ten Common Principles in very different ways. However,... February 22, 2008 by Helen Spiri, Pamela Ayers - Assessment

Nature’s New Educational Mandate: No Child Left Inside It’s 11:30 am, and the energy has shifted in the third/fourth grade classroom. Eyes begin moving from math work to the clock on the wall. Students begin whispering the “R” word. Even students... February 22, 2008 by Jodi Paloni - Instruction

Essential Literacy Partnerships at the South Lawrence East Elementary School Since joining the Coalition of Essential Schools in February 1999, the South Lawrence East Elementary School has used the CES Common Principles as the foundation for enhancing our school culture and... February 22, 2008 by Mary Toomey - Instruction

Life Is About the Work You Do: Horace interviews Ron Berger Ron Berger works with Expeditionary Learning Schools (ELS) as Northeast Regional Field Director. ELS is a comprehensive K-12 educational design that combines rigorous academic content and real world... February 22, 2008 by Jill Davidson - Instruction

"Don’t You Pick And Refuse Me" “The stone that the builder refuse Will always be the head cornerstone-a; The stone that the builder refuse Will always be the head cornerstone.” – “Cornerstone,” Bob... February 22, 2008 - Classroom Culture

On the Road Again: Field Research in a Rural Elementary School At 4:30 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, the school parking lot is full. The yellow school bus labeled “Marlboro School District” sits with doors open. Parents and students mill around and bring... February 22, 2008 by Francie Marbury - Instruction

Defining CES Practices in an Elementary School The Common Principles, originally developed and applied to high schools, guide schools to evaluate what is happening and strive, through reflection and common understanding, to seek improvement. What... February 22, 2008 by Michael Routa - Instruction

The Coalition of Essential Schools Announces “It’s Elementary” a PreK-8th Grade National Initiative In March 2006, Deborah Meier asked Harmony Education Center (HEC) in Bloomington, Indiana to lead a national effort to engage more pre-kindergarten through eighth grade schools across the country in... February 22, 2008 by Steve Bonchek - Community Collaboration

In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness by Chris Mercogliano (Beacon Press, 205 pages, $24.95) Chris Mercogliano’s most recent book, In Defense of Childhood: Protecting... February 22, 2008 by Connie Biewald

Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education by Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan (Teachers College Press, 128 pages, $24.95) Studio Thinking... February 22, 2008 by Kyle Meador

Where to Go for More Fall Forum 2007, Elementary Spotlight CES invites elementary educators to Fall Forum 2007. Join thousands of students, parents, and other leading thinkers to collaborate and inspire school... February 22, 2008

Go to the Source: More about the Schools and Organizations Featured in this Issue Essential Schools Capital City Public Charter School 3047 15th Street, NW Washington, District of Columbia 20009 telephone: 202.387.0309 www.ccpcs.org Greenfield Center School 71... February 22, 2008

Notes on This Issue One of the most wonderful aspects of editing Horace is having the opportunity to collaborate with CES educators willing to write about their teaching, their students’ learning, and their... February 29, 2008 by Jill Davidson

Translating Success: How Careful Planning Within a Problems-Based Curriculum Can Prepare Students to Enter College-Level Math Classes Amy Biehl High School (ABHS) is a charter high school located in downtown Albuquerque that serves students from Albuquerque and the surrounding communities. There is no “typical” ABHS... February 29, 2008 by Jessica Fillmore - Curriculum, Problem-based Learning

What if Less Is Just Less? The Role of Depth over Breadth in the Secondary Mathematics Curriculum One of the most challenging Common Principles for mathematics educators in Essential schools to implement is “less is more.” We are acutely aware of the role of mathematics performance as a... February 29, 2008 by Roser Gine, Diane Kruse - Curriculum, Essential Questions

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

Radical Math: Creating Balance in An Unjust World, Conference Report Founded in 2006 by Jonathan Osler, Math and Community Organizing teacher at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, a public CES high school in Brooklyn, New York, Radical Math is an organization... March 04, 2008 by Jill Davidson

The Case for Creativity in Math Education “Mister, when am I ever going to use this?” When I started out as a new math teacher, these were the words I hated to hear because often, I wasn’t so sure myself. In my own life as a math... March 04, 2008 by Mark Lonergan - Classroom Culture

Applying the Common Principles To Mathematics: Successes and Challenges In the mathematics department at Vanguard High School, we have taken on a mission to raise students’ interest, skill, understanding, and performance in mathematics Over the past several years, we... March 04, 2008 by Ankur Dalal - Classroom Culture

One Instructor’s Quest for a Collaborative Professional Culture With a B.S. in math but no prior math education training, my first job as a math teacher was at an alternative charter school with a holistic mission. I was charged with teaching math to five groups... March 04, 2008 by Jimmy Frickey - Classroom Culture

Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America’s Schools by Sharon L. Nichols and David C. Berliner (Harvard Education Press, 250 pages, $24.95) Collateral Damage will recommit... March 05, 2008 by Jill Davidson

Can We Talk about Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation Can We Talk about Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation by Beverly Daniel Tatum (Beacon Press, 168 pages, $22.95) Beverly Daniel Tatum argues that we must talk about... March 05, 2008 by Jill Davidson

Where to Go for More The Math Forum Like CES, the Math Forum is collaborative, built by and for math teachers. The Math Forum is a long-standing, immense library of tools, curricula, teaching techniques, assistance,... March 05, 2008

Go To The Source: More about the Schools and Other Organizations Featured in this Issue Schools Amy Biehl High School 123 4th Street SW Albuqueque, New Mexico 87102 telephone: 505.299.9409 www.abhs.k12.nm.us Boston Arts Academy 174 Ipswich Street Boston, MA 02215 telephone:... March 05, 2008

Notes on This Issue A few notes and observations on how we created this collection and how you can participate… In the summer of 2006, CES National circulated a call for submissions for “Students as Writers”... March 11, 2008 by Jill Davidson

Students as Writers: What We Can Learn Throughout its 23 years, Horace has featured student voices in a variety of ways, but this is the first time we have produced a completely student-written issue. Now it exists; this collection of... March 21, 2008 by Jill Davidson - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Listening to Students Far too often in conversations about schools, educators talk about students rather than with students. The worlds of student leadership and school change orbit in separate universes. At the Coalition... March 21, 2008 by Laura Flaxman - Instruction, Student-as-worker

“The Perfect High School” Transition from middle school to high school can be very tense. You constantly worry about hairstyles, clothes, new teachers, harder work and the events of your social life. Upon attending a small... March 21, 2008 by Kimberly Hill - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Change with Our Help and Change for Our Sake Set in Denver, Colorado, this year’s CES Small Schools Project Summer Institute was a large success—especially because 60 students attended. The welcoming, almost family reunion-esque atmosphere... March 21, 2008 by Jurion Jaffe - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Inclusion in a Different Sense Like Looking in a Mirror… Denver’s Manual High School was a traditional comprehensive high school of 1,100 students with the city’s lowest student test scores and a high concentration of... March 21, 2008 by Isaura Jimenez - Instruction, Student-as-worker

It Had to Begin with Me Adequately funded, well-functioning public schools in New York City are a precious commodity. Therefore, my parents searched long and hard for the “perfect” school for my brother and me to... March 21, 2008 by Caroline Ensler - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Learning in the Real World Our School City High School is in the heart of downtown Tucson in what used to be the town’s oldest and most famous dress shop. It’s a unique location for a school, with everyone from... March 21, 2008 by Ilyssa Buffalo, Vicki Kahn, Ashleigh Read - Instruction, Student-as-worker