“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 Marley This fall marks my tenth year at the Mission Hill School. I have taught five through nine year olds. Each year there have been students with special needs in my classroom. Sometimes
The Common Principles, originally developed and applied to high schools, guide schools to evaluate what is happening and strive, through reflection and common understanding, to seek improvement. What distinguishes the application of the Common Principles in an elementary school? And what makes a CES elementary school different from other elementary schools? An examination of Windsor Elementary School sheds some light
Since joining the Coalition of Essential Schools in February 1999, the South Lawrence East Elementary School has used the CES Common Principles as the foundation for enhancing our school culture and ensuring student success. We regard literacy skills – the abilities to decode and comprehend grade-level text, to engage with text thoughtfully, and to express oneself clearly in writing –
Essential Schools Capital City Public Charter School 3047 15th Street, NW Washington, District of Columbia 20009 telephone: 202.387.0309 www.ccpcs.org Greenfield Center School 71 Montague City Road Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301 telephone: 413.773.1700 www.centerschool.net Marlboro School PO Box D, 2669 Route 9 Marlboro, Vermont 05344 telephone: 802.254.2668 marlboro.wcsu.k12.vt.us Mission Hill School 67 Alleghany Street Boston Massachusettes 02120 telephone: 617.635.6384 www.missionhillschool.org Salem Avenue
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 progressive-minded elementary schools: Central Park East, Central Park East II, and River East. Through a series of lucky connections, we got Ted Sizer interested in our new venture, and thus was
In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness by Chris Mercogliano (Beacon Press, 205 pages, $24.95) Chris Mercogliano’s most recent book, In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness is a welcome antidote to our current culture of fear. It is a powerful reminder of not only what children, but all of us, need to be productive, happy individuals: authentic,
Ron Berger works with Expeditionary Learning Schools (ELS) as Northeast Regional Field Director. ELS is a comprehensive K-12 educational design that combines rigorous academic content and real world projects –learning expeditions – with active teaching and community service. Expeditionary Learning is now being implemented in more than 140 urban, rural, and suburban schools, including a strong representation of CES schools.
When we work on goal setting at Greenfield Center School (GCS), we have a practice of showing what the relationships, interaction, teaching practices, and evidence of learning look and sound like. Making theory more concrete helps us all to envision the work ahead. In 2006, a group of elementary level Essential school educators developed a Statement of Values about our
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 who have not yet mastered telling time with an analog clock know that “the big hand on the 9” means it’s time for recess. I’d like to
What is a Coalition elementary school? In the Chesapeake Coalition of Essential Schools network, each of our schools has made meaning of the ten Common Principles in very different ways. However, because our schools came to us not necessarily through the philosophically noble pursuit of principles, but through the funding opportunity of Comprehensive School Reform, CES journeys within our network
At 4:30 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, the school parking lot is full. The yellow school bus labeled “Marlboro School District” sits with doors open. Parents and students mill around and bring duffels and packs to the back. Parent chaperones pack coolers of food and bags of groceries into the support vehicles. Finally, everything is packed and the kids are
Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education by Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan (Teachers College Press, 128 pages, $24.95) Studio Thinking looks inside the “studio classrooms” of five visual arts teachers (including Beth Balliro, Kathleen Marsh, and Mickey Telemaque of CES Mentor School Boston Arts Academy) to discover that arts education benefits may
In March 2006, Deborah Meier asked Harmony Education Center (HEC) in Bloomington, Indiana to lead a national effort to engage more pre-kindergarten through eighth grade schools across the country in the work of CES. Debbie believed that although CES had always welcomed these schools, elementary educators felt that high schools had always received more attention and benefits from CES membership
Fall Forum 2007, Elementary Spotlight CES invites elementary educators to Fall Forum 2007. Join thousands of students, parents, and other leading thinkers to collaborate and inspire school transformation. This year’s Fall Forum, “A Principled Stand,” will take place November 8-10 in Denver, Colorado and features a strong and varied selection of sessions designed to address the circumstances of CES elementary