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Selection Criteria for Mentor Schools

We seek mentor schools that can help grow new schools that embody CES Common Principles. Applicants to become CES National Mentor Schools should share our common set of beliefs about the purpose and practice of schooling. Based on decades of research and practice, the principles call for all schools to offer:

• Personalized and intellectually vibrant instruction to address individual needs and interests
• Small schools and classrooms, where teachers and students know each other well and work in an atmosphere of trust and high expectations
• Multiple assessments based on performance of authentic tasks
• Democratic and equitable school policies and practice
• Close partnerships with the school's community
• Equitable outcomes for all students

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• The school must be a high school.
• The student population is 400 or less.
• The school should be in existence for three or more years and have had at least one graduating class.
• The school has or is eager to take on the responsibility of mentoring new or existing CES schools.
• The school has the organizational capacity to withstand the additional stresses this work will inevitably bring.
• The school must have a commitment to continuous improvement and regularly use student achievement data to drive change efforts.
• The school must have a stable faculty and leadership in place.
• The school is interested in participating in a national network of CES schools
• The school must be formally affiliated with CES National when they submit the letter of intent. For information on the affiliation process please read an overview of the CES National Affiliation Program.

In addition to the criteria listed above, a combination of factors including student demographics, geographical location, and the theme or focus of the school, will inform CES's final decision. CES is committed to meeting the needs of young people and communities that have traditionally been educationally underserved therefore, the majority of the schools in the mentor school network will primarily serve students of color and students from low-income families. While maintaining these commitments, we are also seeking a diverse pool of mentor schools and the overall balance of the cohort will inform the selection of individual schools. For example, we would not want all of the mentors to be located in the same geographic region.

We anticipate tremendous interest in this project. We will review the letters of intent and invite those who best fit our criteria to participate in the full application process.

The Application Process

The Mentor School application process involves an online application that gives the school an opportunity to paint a full and extensive picture of itself, including both strengths and challenges. In addition the applicant is asked to upload documents into a school portfolio that evidences the school's growth and highlights its accomplishments. Lastly, finalists will be visited by a school observation team, which may include CES National Small Schools Project Team members, a local critical friend that the school chooses and a National/Regional Mentor School Selection Advisor.

We would like to emphasize that while we can only accept up to five new mentor schools to begin their planning during the 2005-2006 school year, we will be looking for additional schools to serve in this capacity over the next years.

CES Common Principles

We have developed a rubric, the Small Schools Project Benchmarks, outlining key features of the CES Common Principles, organized in the categories of "Student Achievement", "Teaching and Learning", "School Culture", "School Practices", "Community Connections", "Leadership", and "Continuous School Improvement". As part of the full mentor school application, we will ask each school to use the rubric to assess its own practice in these areas and submit a School Portfolio that includes documents that evidence these practices.

Network Responsibilities

An important part of the project is the full participation of the mentor school in the CES Mentor School Network. The school will have to select a Project Liaison and must be willing to allow that person and the leader of the school the time to participate in at least four network meetings per year. The Network will create professional development opportunities for schools to continue to grow and improve their practice as well as share their challenges and lessons with each other and the next generation of CES small schools.

Eagerness to Mentor

Many of the schools interested in becoming CES Mentor Schools may already be playing the role of mentor to another school or they may experience frequent visits from others interested in the educational programs that thrive in their schools. This project is designed to tap into and expand that experience. A school interested in becoming a CES Mentor School should demonstrate that the whole school is invested in establishing a formal mentoring program at the school. Participation in the CES Mentor School Network can provide you with resources to formalize your mentoring work and to make sure that your work as a mentor enriches rather than depletes your school's energy and resources. As part of the mentor school application the school will be asked to describe their experience with mentoring thus far, evidence the support of their school community and envision what a formal mentoring relationship would look like if they were to become a CES Mentor School.

Infrastructure and Organizational Capacity

Schools interested in becoming CES Mentor Schools will have to demonstrate that the school is stable and ready to take on the additional stresses of mentoring. The school must be prepared to fulfill the following requests as part of the formal Mentor School application process:

• A description of the leadership structures of the school, including all relevant site councils or governing bodies and letters of support from these bodies for the mentoring project
• A brief explanation on how long key leaders have held their current positions
• Letter of support from teacher union representatives and/or a majority of the faculty council
• Letter of support from relevant district administrators
• Letter of support, if applicable, from a CES regional center with whom the school is affiliated
• A brief description of grants received from the Gates Foundation, if any
• A brief description of other grants that might be put toward development of the mentoring work, if any.

For further information on selection criteria for mentor schools, please contact Mara Benitez, Co-Director of the Small Schools Project, at mbenitez@essentialschools.org.

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