Resources | Coalition of Essential Schools

My Educational Activism Yarmouth High School (YHS) may look like an ordinary brick high school with parking spaces in the front, the American flag waving by the front door, and the flocks of kids waiting for the buses in... March 25, 2008 by Emma Brightbill - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Nation Building: Out with the Old and In with the New Imagine, if you will, that you are a citizen of a small nation. Now this nation has been trudging along through the years, its citizens coming and going, most of them not angered, but never truly... March 25, 2008 by Michael Sawyer - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Addendum: Parker Charter Essential School’s Wellness Program Wellness is an integrated curriculum combining aspects of traditional health classes with physical education, games, fitness skills and other mind-body connection skills. The goals of the Wellness... July 22, 2008

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

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

Katrina Volunteer From July 10 to July 31, 2006, I went to New Orleans as a volunteer with a non-profit organization called People’s Organizing Committee (POC). This organization’s main goal was to get the... March 27, 2008 by Julius Rainey - Instruction, Student-as-worker

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

Collaborative Teacher Leadership: How Teachers Can Foster Equitable Schools Collaborative Teacher Leadership: How Teachers Can Foster Equitable Schools, by Martin L. Krovetz and Gilberto Arriaza (Corwin Press, 216 pages, $29.95) While Collaborative Teacher Leadership... June 23, 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

Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching: A Resource Guide for the K-12 Classroom By Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray and Jenice L. View (Teaching for Change and Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 576 pages, $29.99) BUY NOW! Reviewed by Jill Davidson A teacher friend... August 15, 2005 by Jill Davidson - Curriculum

Don't Forget to Write: 54 Enthralling and Effective Writing Lessons for Students 6-18 Don't Forget to Write: 54 Enthralling and Effective Writing Lessons for Students 6-18 (826 Valencia, 224 pages, $25.00) reviewed by Jill Davidson 826 Valencia provides drop-in tutoring centers,... September 12, 2006 by Jill Davidson

Where to Go For More: Resources for Essential Schools to Make the Most of Inclusion LD Online LD Online is a big tent, providing deep and broad resources for people with disabilities and their parents, educators, and friends. Its comprehensive offerings, mostly focused on the... August 15, 2005 - Classroom Culture

Three Views of Lincoln Table of Contents: Introduction Focusing the Snapshot The First Lens: What is Authentic Work? The Search for Authentic Work in the Public Safety Magnet Student Reactions to the... June 10, 2002 by Neill Wenger, Laraine Hong, Robert Hampel - The Change Process

The Long Haul: An Autobiography The Long Haul, one of our all-time favorite books, is an auto-biography of Myles Horton, who, through his High-lander Folk School in New Market, Tennessee, helped train Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa... March 11, 2003 by Myles Horton - Curriculum, Essential Questions

Go to the Source: More about the Schools and Organizations Featured in this Issue The Antioch Center for School Renewal Antioch University New England 40 Avon Street Keene, New Hampshire 03431-3516 telephone: 603.283.2301 email: ACSR@antiochne.edu... July 22, 2008

The Big Picture: Education is Everyone's Business By Dennis Littky with Samantha Grabelle (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 230 pages, $26.95) BUY NOW!reviewed by Jill Davidson Elias, my four-year old son, is crazy about... December 16, 2004 by Jill Davidson - Small Learning Communities

Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools In Making the Grade, Tony Wagner clarifies the need for school change in order to urge policymakers and school leaders to work concertedly on education's real problems. Wagner, Co-Director of the... May 28, 2002 by Tony Wagner - The Change Process

The Growing Numbers of Limited English Proficient Students, 1991-2002 Each year, the United States Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students issues data... March 11, 2003

Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference By Mark Edmundson(Vintage, 288 pp., $13.00) BUY NOW! Reviewed by Eva A. Frank Perhaps I have seen Stand and Deliver and Dead Poets Society too many times. Until Mark Edmundson’s Teacher, I... August 15, 2005 by Eva A. Frank - Classroom Culture

Creating Equity from the Ground Up Boston Arts Academy is the city's first public high school for the visual and performing arts. The Arts Academy is committed to a rigorous academic and arts education for students who are... April 30, 2003 by Linda Nathan - Learning Structures, Heterogeneous Grouping

Sidebar: Statement on College Readiness, Chief Academic Offices of the University of Maine System While the seven campuses of the University of Maine System have different criteria for admission and placement, they all share a common understanding of what comprises an optimal, college-ready high... September 12, 2006 - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities

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

Horace Talks with Ted Sizer: The History, Limitations, and Possibilities of School Districts Ted Sizer, founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools and now its Chair Emeritus, discussed his frustrations with school districts as they typically operate with Jill Davidson, Horace's... November 28, 2005 - Decision Making Processes, Democratic Practice

"Student as Worker" Applied Outside the Classroom Strongly implemented in CES schools across the country, the ten Common Principles have an impact on thousands of students. With the Common Principle “Embracing the metaphor ‘student as... March 27, 2008 by Lou Vargas - Instruction, Student-as-worker

Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society by Michael Klonsky and Susan Klonsky (Routledge, 209 pages, $26.95), reviewed by Jill Davidson Mike and Susan Klonsky’s Small... July 22, 2008

Health Week: A Wellness Immersion At the end of each trimester at Compass School, classes are suspended for week-long immersions in rich, problem-based learning experiences. During Health Week, Community Service Winter Term (which... July 22, 2008

Resources for Learning More about Leadership for Equity Tolerance.org A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Tolerance.org features extensive civil rights-related resources for teachers, parents, teens, and younger children. The teachers'... April 30, 2003 - Governance, Democratic Practice

The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities Throughout The Light in Their Eyes, I was thrilled by the continuity between Sonia Nieto's description of multicultural education and Coalition educators' focus on personalized, sustained and... July 31, 2002 by Sonia Nieto - Family Collaboration

The Soul of Education: Helping Students Find Connection, Compassion, and Character at School I'm wary of books with "soul" in the title; it's so faddish -and of those with "character"; they're often too doctrinaire for my taste. But this book is a gem. Moving, wise, and practical, Kessler's... December 13, 2002 by Rachael Kessler - Curriculum, Essential Questions

"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

Creating New Schools: How Small Schools are Changing American Education In Creating New Schools's introduction, Evans Clinchy-Senior Consultant at the Institute for Responsive Education at Northeastern University -questions the possibilities of autonomy within large... May 28, 2002 by Evans Clinchy - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities

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

Horace Talks with Steve Jubb: How BayCES Has Built Alliances and Challenged the Status Quo Brett Bradshaw, CES National's Director of Strategic Communications, spoke with Steve Jubb, Executive Director of the Bay Area Coalition of Equitable Schools (BayCES), a CES National affiliate... March 13, 2006 by Brett Bradshaw

Where to Go for More: Resources for Exploring Community Organizing and Small Schools If you are interested in visiting the schools associated with Oakland's New Small Autonomous Schools effort, please contact Madeleine Clarke, Director of Development at... July 31, 2002 - Community Collaboration

Rewriting the Roles Table of Contents: Introduction New Challenges, New Changes Focusing the Snapshot Meeting the Challenges When Work and Roles Change Coping with Confusion Coping with Changes... June 10, 2002 by Neill Wenger, Robert Hampel, Laura Maxwell - The Change Process

Small Is Not Enough: Daily Connections Among Children and Adults in Oakland Oakland's new scaled-down schools allow the people who work and learn in them to focus on creating environments where it's likely that strong relationships among adults and children will develop... July 30, 2002 by Jill Davidson - Family Collaboration, Small Learning Communities

Vision and Its Foes: Beneath the Surface of School Reform There is a conspiracy of vision amid efforts to remake American schools for the twenty-first century. First among the conspirators are teachers, principals, and university based... April 29, 2002 by Joe McDonald - The Change Process

What Does Freedom Mean at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School? "A democracy is more than a form of government; it is a primary mode of associated living, or conjoint communicated experience.” —John Dewey Most high school students consider the day they... March 27, 2008 by Amanda Griffin, Kayla Reeves - Instruction, Student-as-worker

High Schools on a Human Scale By Thomas Toch (Beacon Press, 144 pages, $15.00)reviewed by Laura Flaxman "The prospect of high schools on a more human scale ultimately requires a belief on the part of educators and policy-makers... December 18, 2003 by Laura Flaxman - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities

Myths and Realities: Best Practices for Language Minority Students "My immigrant grandparents were thrown into school with kids who spoke English and they survived. Why can't kids do that today?" Some broadly held beliefs about language learning persist and strongly... March 11, 2003 by Denise McKeon, Katherine Davies Samway - Instruction, Personalization

Tuned In and Fired Up: How Real Teaching Can Inspire Real Learning in the Classroom By Sam M. Intrator (Yale University Press, 208 pages; $23.00), BUY NOW!reviewed by Katherine Simon These are tough times for those of us who believe that the core of learning has to do with igniting... July 07, 2004 by Kathy Simon - Classroom Culture

How the CES Common Principles Help Essential Schools Create Transitions to Higher Education How do the CES Common Principles inform Essential schools as they prepare their students to make the transition from high school to higher education? Through the experience of leaders, teachers,... September 12, 2006 by Jill Davidson

Resources for Conceptualizing the Curriculum and Teaching Particular Math Units The Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP), published by Everyday Learning in Chicago, Illinois. This is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded integrated mathematics curriculum project that... April 02, 2004 by Roser M. Giné - Curriculum, Subject Integration

Beating the Odds: High Schools as Communities of Commitment by Jacqueline Ancess (Teachers College Press, 192 pages, $19.95) reviewed by Kathy Simon It is hard for most of us who attended and began teaching in standard-issue schools in this country to... September 03, 2003 by Kathy Simon - Learning Structures, Small Learning Communities

Schools Learning from Each Other School Redesign Network The School Redesign Network, based at Stanford University, is a powerful collaborative that provides resources both for creating small schools and for redesigning large... December 18, 2003 - Classroom Culture

Students from Leadership High School Speak Out About Equity: Roundtable Interview I Stewart Jones, Rachel Russell, T.J. Estandian, Yaffa Katz-Lewis, and Peter Lauterborn, five seniors from San Francisco's Leadership High School, discussed their views on educational equity with... April 30, 2003 by Jill Davidson - Classroom Culture

Doing Something Real: Horace interviews with Debbie Meier on Community Service Deborah Meier began her teaching career as a kindergarten and Head Start teacher in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City. She was the founder and teacher-director of a network of highly successful... April 02, 2008 - Community Collaboration

Great Books for High School Kids: A Teachers' Guide to Books that Can Change Teens' Lives Edited by Rick Ayers and Amy Crawford (Beacon Press, 224 pages, $15.00), BUY NOW!reviewed by Jill Davidson Three cheers for summer! The weather's great, but the best part is more time to read. Those... July 07, 2004 by Jill Davidson - Curriculum

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

Collaborative Teaching for Inclusion at North Central Charter Essential School On the final day of a month-long unit on heritage in a Division Two (ninth and tenth grade) English class at North Central Charter Essential School in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, I overheard total,... August 12, 2005 by Jill Davidson