Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, edited by Kathryn Parker Boudett, Elizabeth A. City, and Richard J. Murnane (Harvard Educational Publishing Group, 212 pages, $29.95) Demystify that data! A powerful asset to data driven inquiry and improvement, Data Wise comes out of a work group of Boston Public School leaders and Harvard
Don’t Forget to Write: 54 Enthralling and Effective Writing Lessons for Students 6-18 (826 Valencia, 224 pages, $25.00) 826 Valencia provides drop-in tutoring centers, writing workshops, and support for teaching writing in local schools nationwide. Don’t Forget to Write gathers some of the best of what’s been taught, often by “real” writers—the published, recognizable, New York Times Book Review sort.
Supporting first-generation students not only to get into college but stay and finish interrupts negative generational patterns in powerful ways. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 22% of postsecondary students are the first in their families to go to college. In many Essential schools, that percentage is far greater. Though first-generation college students are at greater risk for
Schools Anzar High School 2000 San Juan Highway San Juan Bautista, California 95045 phone: 831/623-7660 Boston Arts Academy 174 Ipswich Street Boston, Massachusetts 02215 phone: 617/635-6470 www.boston-arts-academy.org Federal Hocking High School 8461 State Route 144 Stewart, Ohio 45778 phone: 740/662-6691 www.federalhocking.k12.oh.us/hs/fhhs_website/index.htm Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School 49 Antietam Street Devens, Massachusetts 01434 phone: 978/772-3293 www.parker.org Lewiston High School 156
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, advisors, parents, and students at Essential schools, Horace explores what college readiness means in a CES context, noting the unique ways our schools create support systems as students make choices
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 graduates’ feedback informally, gleaning what they can when alumni show up for reunions or Alumni Day or stay in touch via casual visits, email, phone calls, and chance neighborhood encounters. But schools can’t
Of course, college graduates don’t measure their lives’ richness solely by the names on their diplomas. Essential schools help young people, no matter where life takes them after high school, to form gratifying relationships, participate in their communities, strengthen our democracy, and bring thoughtful habits of mind into the larger world. Horace has a new look! We hope the energy
Currently a Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Nancy Sizer was the acting co-principal of the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School in 1998-99 and served as Parker’s transition counselor, helping lead its first graduating class through the transition to postsecondary education in 2000. She taught 7th- through 12th-grade students at the Wheeler School in Providence,
Evidence: What do I know and how do I know it? What are all the choices? Show the evidence. Perspective: What are the biases-mine and others? What do I already know from my past experiences, and what’s my bias? What is the bias of the research used? What are alternative points of view? What did I learn from the experiences
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 school transcript. Students who succeed in college and graduate on time usually have the following high school preparation in the core academic areas: Four years of English courses that incorporate
Horace editor note: The following sidebar appeared in an issue of Horace entitled “Taking Stock: How Are Essential Schools Doing?” published in 1991. The first volume of the Eight Year Study is online at www.8yearstudy.org. Has anyone ever tried to find out systematically whether what students do in high school really matters when they go on to college? The answer
“In one of our early meetings someone said, ‘It’s not fair that colleges get to choose us – can’t we choose them?’ This started us thinking about the types of colleges WE would be interested in – what colleges WE would choose . . . we wrote about our lives, our interests . . . We developed long lists of
The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear edited by Paul Rogat Loeb (Basic Books, 422 pages, $15.95) reviewed by Jill Davidson Sometimes I pick up a book that makes me wish I were still teaching, but since I’m not, I ask you to share The Impossible Will Take a Little
Values Go to School: Exploring Ethics with Children, Jonathan Diamond Associates in association with the faculty of the Child Development Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, VHS $24.95, DVD $29.95 Ever since I viewed a chorus of kindergarten-age coaches shouting “Solve your problem!” to clashing classmates, I’ve wanted to steal their line and holler the same to the conflict-seekers in my
Achieve Sponsor of the periodic National Education Summits, Achieve is a bipartisan national organization that works at the state level to identify standards for successful education reform. With 22 states, Achieve leads the American Diploma Project Network which identifies and advocates for benchmarks, assessments, and data systems for successful transitions from high school to postsecondary education. Reports such as “Closing
Where to Go for More: on How Essential Schools Prepare Students for Higher Education Achieve Sponsor of the periodic National Education Summits, Achieve is a bipartisan national organization that works at the state level to identify standards for successful education reform. With 22 states, Achieve leads the American Diploma Project Network which identifies and advocates for benchmarks, assessments, and data