Common Principles for Uncommon Schools

Horace The Change Process

‘Design Studios’ Foster Teacher R and D

How can a professional development event best stimulate and support teachers, administrators, parents, and students in making serious whole-school change, while connecting them with the work of colleagues in other schools? Teachers at the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (the Met) in Providence, Rhode Island and educators at the affiliated Big Picture Company think they have found an answer

“So Now What?” Managing the Change Process

Can we impose order on the messy process of school change? Only by agreeing that teamwork is viatl, veterans say. Changes in classroom practices, school structures, and attitudes then rise and fall like a juggler’s balls, keeping each other in balance. Judy Cunningham can put her finger right on what turned the tide of change at Rancho San Joaquin, where

Horace: The Change Process Published: February 12, 2017 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: Decision Making Processes, The Change Process

At the Five-Year Mark: The Challenge of Being ‘Essential’

Five years ago this autumn, the Coalition of Essential Schools was launched. To mark the occasion the editor of HORACE talked with the Coalition’s founder, Theodore Sizer, on where the effort stands today, asking him to assess its accomplishments and the challenges that lie ahead. We started not by self- congratulation but by looking critically at the ways of change,

Horace: The Change Process Published: February 12, 1990 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Coalition Materials That Can Support the Change Effort

STUDIES ON TEACHER CHANGE A Feeling of Uneasiness: An English Teacher in the Midst of Change, by P. A. Wasley. (TC1) Trusting Kids and Their Voices: A Humanities Teacher in the Midst of Change, by P.A. Wasley. (TC2) A Formula for Making a Difference: A Math Teacher in the Midst of Change, by P.A. Wasley. (TC3) Stirring the Chalkdust: Three

Comments from Maureen Benson, Principal, Youth Empowerment School

Maureen Benson, principal of the Fremont Federation’s Youth Empowerment School (YES), talked with Laura Flaxman and Horace editor Jill Davidson about YES’s early successes and challenges as a small, autonomous, interconnected school. On Professional Development and Staffing Academically and instructionally, we are nowhere near where I would like us to be. But creating a cohesive staff takes time, patience, resilience

Horace: The Change Process Published: September 10, 2004 By: Jill Davidson, Laura Flaxman Topics: Developing Leaders, The Change Process

Conversation Starters: A Discussion About Decency

One way to focus a conversation is to ask participants to discuss in depth one of the Nine Common Principles as it relates to their school. Principal Neil Culhane of Avon High School in Avon, Connecticut asked his staff to read a recent issue of HORACE that focused on the principle of decency (Volume 7, No. 4), and to talk

Horace: The Change Process Published: May 12, 1992 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Conversation Starters: Coaches Talk About the Fifth Common Principle

At Fairdale High School in Jefferson County, Kentucky, to extend the conversation about the metaphor of “teacher as coach, student as worker,” several athletic coaches offered the following teaching guidelines in their own words. Work specifically on individual weaknesses one on one, demonstrating the correct execution of the stroke, etc. Communicate exactly what is expected in terms of punctuality, behavior,

Horace: The Change Process Published: May 12, 1992 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Conversation Starters: Some Key Questions

The Coalition has used this technique in beginning the conversation at schools in the exploratory stages. In groups of around five people, consider a few of the following questions. (Warning: Pick only one set of these questions; to “cover” all of them will only lead to superficial conversations.) For each one, come up with three answers to share with the

Horace: The Change Process Published: May 12, 1992 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Cross-Disciplinary Teaming and Active Learning: The Middle School Model

Ever since it sprang from a major study of American high schools and the publication of Theodore Sizer’s book Horace’s Compromise, the Coalition of Essential Schools has seen itself primarily as a high school reform movement. But some of the healthiest examples of Essential School principles and pedagogy can be found at the middle school level. A well-established national movement

Horace: The Change Process Published: December 12, 1991 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Essential Schools’ Performance: Some Preliminary Figures

1. Attendance and Drop-out Rates Central Park East Secondary School: Central Park East Secondary School attendance rate, 1988-89: 91% New York City Public Schools official attendance rate, 1988-89: 79% Central Park East Secondary School drop-out rate, 1988-89: 0% New York City Public Schools official drop out rate, 1988-89: 26.8% Hope High School: Hope Essential School attendance rate, 1986-88: 87% Hope

Horace: The Change Process Published: February 12, 1990 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Getting Started in an Essential School Program

For schools beginning to move towards adopting the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools, the first steps are often the most daunting. How can a few interested people gain the support of an entire staff for a change that will ultimately affect the whole school? How much money will it take to get started, and where will it come

Horace: The Change Process Published: June 12, 1989 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Go To The Source: More about the Schools and Other Organizations Featured in this Issue

Schools Clover Park High School Public school serving grades 9-12 11023 Gravelly Lake Drive SW Lakewood, WA 98499-1391 253/583-5500 http://cpsd.cloverpark.k12.wa.us/Schools/HighSchools/CloverPark/CloverPark.asp   College Preparatory and Architecture Academy Public school serving grades 9-12 4610 Foothill Blvd. Oakland, CA 94601 510/879-1131   Fremont in Transition High School Public school serving grades 9-12 4610 Foothill Blvd. Oakland, CA 94601 510/879-1137   Leominster High School

Horace: The Change Process Published: September 10, 2004 By: Topics: Democratic Practice, The Change Process

Horace’s Mailbox: On ‘Lessons Learned’

To the Editor: There’s too much wisdom here [“What Works, What Doesn’t: Lessons Learned from Essential School Reform,” HORACE Vol. 9, No. 2] for it to be lost in the telling. And too much need for reformers to understand what we could do wrong and hence participate in undoing what we are specifically trying to do. Isn’t there some sense

How CES Can Help

Schools seeking help with implementing the Ten Common Principles can find help through the Coalition of Essential Schools in a variety of ways: 1. The new CES School Benchmarks spell out detailed “indicators” for how the Ten Common Principles play out in school structures and practices. To obtain the latest working copy, contact Joe Pattaphongse by e-mail at jpattaphongse@essentialschools.org, or

Information and Resources

For more information on the programs referred to in this issue, contact the following people: HOPE HIGH SCHOOL AIbin Moser, Head Teacher 324 Hope Street Providence, RI 02906 (401) 456-9329 PARKWAY SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL Craig Larson, Principal 801 Hanna Road Manchester, MO 63021 (314) 394-8300 RE:LEARNING: FROM SCHOOLHOUSE TO STATEHOUSE Education Commission for the States 1860 Lincoln Street, Suite 300

Horace: The Change Process Published: June 12, 1989 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Interview with Anna Le, Life Academy Graduate

Anna Le, a graduate of Life Academy, actively participated on the school’s design team during its transition to an autonomous small school. In conversation with Laura Flaxman, Le shares her insights about small school design from the student perspective. Laura Flaxman: What should students be aware of when they’re moving from a large high school to a small one? Anna

Horace: The Change Process Published: September 10, 2004 By: Laura Flaxman Topics: Democratic Practice, Keeping The Vision, The Change Process

Let’s Talk: How One Community Prepared for Its New School

In the current planning year before Sedona Red Rock High School opens in Sedona, Arizona, principal Rick Lear has scheduled discussion groups with parents, students, and community members on fourteen topics. Each topic was scheduled for three alternative times of day, to maximize participation; and each session ended with the question, “What implications do our views have for the design

Horace: The Change Process Published: October 11, 1994 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Life Academy and Fremont High Schol: Lessons for Large School Conversions

In the summer of 2000, I moved to Oakland to get involved in the city’s small schools initiative. For two years, I led Life Academy, the city’s first new small autonomous high school, born in 2001 from an academy program within Oakland’s 2,000-plus student Fremont High School. Having spent many years working with new school start-ups across the country, I

Horace: The Change Process Published: September 10, 2004 By: Laura Flaxman Topics: The Change Process

New Jersey Coalition Schools: Compelled to Collaborate

What happens when schools are compelled by external district or state mandates to adopt a democratic leadership structure–as is happening in mandated reform efforts nationwide–rather than developing a collaborative decision-making model within the school community? In the last three years, nearly five dozen New Jersey schools have chosen to adopt the Coalition common principles. All were in districts affected by

Horace: The Change Process Published: September 10, 2002 By: Jill Davidson Topics: The Change Process

No Deadwood Need Apply: A New School Advertises for Teachers

When Judy Cunningham was named principal of the new South Lake Middle School in Irvine, California (not far from where she has been principal of Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, a Coalition member), she wrote up a job description for district teachers applying for positions on the school’s certificated team. (“Candidates only needed to walk on water and not get

Horace: The Change Process Published: October 11, 1994 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

One School’s First Step: Changing the Schedule to Get the Numbers Down

In a bold step designed to dramatically reduce the number of students teachers see in a semester, Iroquois High School will launch a “Macro-class Optional Program” in the coming school year. The program redesigns the school’s schedule into three 100-minute blocks, punctuated at midday by a 70-minute lunch and activity period. During its first year, it will coexist alongside the

Horace: The Change Process Published: December 12, 1991 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Outside the System but with the System’s Blessing: Are Charter Schools a Force for Change?

Eight states have now made charter schools part of their education reform agendas, but the dust has not yet settled as to exactly what that means. In California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, legislators have authorized independent groups of educators, businesspeople, or parents to create publicly funded alternatives to their local schools- and a recent survey

Horace: The Change Process Published: October 11, 1994 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Professional Development: School-Based, Goal-Centered, Non-Stop, Exploratory

If teachers in Essential schools are to shape sweeping changes in everything from classroom practices to school structures, they will need sustained coaching in how to do it. A growing number of analysts regard professional development as the single most important key to the change process. And new ways of linking teachers’ learning opportunities directly to school goals and integrating

RE:Learning: New Help in Getting Started

Schools or districts that operate in relative isolation have particular difficulty winning the financial, political, and philosophical support they need to think seriously about educational redesign. At the same time, helping schools to find and maintain support is a growing administrative problem for the Coalition staff at Brown, as the Coalition expands and the number of schools requiring such assistance

Horace: The Change Process Published: June 12, 1989 By: Kathleen Cushman Topics: The Change Process

Resources: Professional Development, School Restructuring, and Small Schools

Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools BayCES’s website provides a substantial range of tools, ideas, inspirations, and resources for creating small schools from large schools and for establishing new small schools. Throughout, BayCES keeps a close focus on equity, emphasizing professional development that creates opportunities for all students to learn. The BayCES newsletter, Schools by Design, is available on the

Horace: The Change Process Published: September 10, 2004 By: Topics: Democratic Practice, Developing Leaders, The Change Process
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