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 worker’,” students are able to revolutionize student culture to reach new heights, bringing it outside the classroom and into the whole school community through student activism. Having students as workers provides a
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 school that’s focused on academics, you notice you miss out on things students at regular schools enjoy. For instance, there are no pep rallies or football games at
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 created the perfect catalyst for discussing and sharing innovations in the small schools process. There were group workshops (set in rooms with an overabundance of Jolly Ranchers, pads of paper and pens), lively discussions
Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment 4424 S 188th Street SeaTac, Washington 98188 phone: 206/433-2342 www.hsd401.org/ourschools/highschools/ace/ Capital City Public Charter School 3047 15th Street, NW Washington, District of Columbia 20009 phone: 202/387-0309 www.ccpcs.org City High School 48 E. Pennington St. Tucson, Arizona 85701 phone: 520-623-7223 www.cityhighschool.org Connections Public Charter School 174 Kamehameha Avenue Hilo, Hawaii 96720-2834 phone: 866/961-3664 www.connectionscharterschool.org Eagle Rock
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 low-income students. In 2000, Manual High School received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to break up into three autonomous small schools. But the test scores remained
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 attend. They found School of the Future on Manhattan’s East Side when I was ready to enter sixth grade. Five years later as a junior, I am inundated with SAT
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 people most affected by Hurricane Katrina to play a leading role in rebuilding New Orleans. One year after the storm, the lower income communities still have not received
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 dressed-up lawyers to hungry homeless people passing by on the sidewalk every day. We even have a neon sign in our storefront window, like all
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 of Essential Schools,we have sought to alter this dynamic by engaging youth along with adults in the tasks of creating and transforming schools. In our experience, the most powerful schools
For many teenagers, school is just school; a place to go and learn about numbers and things that happened way before we were born and nothing more. But for me, school is something that holds much more meaning. When I walk through the school doors each morning, I am embraced with the feeling of being home. I feel a sense
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 the afternoon. But inside, it is a school that strives for excellence in every way. YHS does not emphasize perfection, knowing it isn’t possible.
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 happy with their lives in this small land; it could always be better, someway, somehow. But alas, these unwitting citizens never really know how,
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” widely throughout the CES network. We sent email to all affiliated schools, included an announcement of the project in the E*ssential News blast (our electronic newsletter) and posted
Communities are eager for change and are looking toward their young people to solve educational challenges. Schools continue making classes larger and harder for students to learn on an individual basis. Small schools like Eagle Rock offer opportunities to young people to expand their knowledge with structure and support. Eagle Rock was founded on values that lead students and faculty
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 students’ descriptions of being active in the process of their own education is in your hands. When we released the call for submissions to this issue, we
Creating challenging and personalized schools for all young people is the first step in giving the new generation of youth a strong foundation to start their lives. I felt the energy of a mysterious environment as I walked through an unknown building. There was a familiar sense of school: a light smell of chalk and dry erase boards filled the
“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 graduate as the day they finally experience freedom in their twelve years of education. They are accustomed to having things done for them and have not been given the
My name is Nnamdi Nwaezeapu. I am currently an eighth grader attending Capital City Public Charter School. Capital City (CCPCS) was established in the fall of 1999 and revolutionized the way that schools were designed in the Columbia Heights area of Washington, D.C. Capital City is one of the many successful Expeditionary Learning Schools throughout the US. I have been