Walk into any one of the classrooms at the Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment at the Tyee Educational Complex and you will see students writing intensely. You will hear them discussing their ideas with passion, and you will feel the electricity of students using their minds well. Yet, only three years ago, these same classrooms were part of what was
“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one person can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills, misery, ignorance, and violence. Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And in the total of all those acts will be written the
At schools that align with the Common Principles, there’s often a palpable sense of high expectations, personalization, and the purpose of school as a place for students to use their minds well. As the co-director and longtime school coach at the Michigan Coalition of Essential Schools (MCES), I have witnessed what it takes for schools to develop those qualities. This
Engaging the Disengaged: How Schools Can Help Struggling Students Succeed by Lois Brown Easton (Corwin Press, 304 pages, $37.95) Far too many young people sit in classes disengaged; far too many drop out of school altogether. The drop-out statistics are frightening enough, but no one really knows how many more students merely endure school, sitting in the back of the
It’s obvious I wouldn’t be the student or person I’ve developed into if my traditional high school didn’t become a small school. When I envision myself as a senior in a traditional high school, what I can imagine is “okay” grades, several absences, and a “going nowhere” attitude. Yet when I evaluate who I am now, I see the opposite.
Schools Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment 4424 S 188th Street SeaTac, Washington 98188 telephone: 206.433.2342 www.hsd401.org/ourschools/highschools/ace Civitas School of Leadership 4201 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200 Los Angeles, California 90010 telephone: 323.932.2639 Los Angeles School of the Arts Los Angeles High School of the Arts 1575 West Second Street Los Angeles, California 90026 telephone: 213.241.8530 www.lahsa.net McCulloch Academy of Technology and
I recently attended a national conference where hundreds of educators, parents, policy makers, and community leaders gathered to discuss innovative ways to ensure that high school students in this country are ready for college, work and life. On my way home, as I sat in the airport reflecting on my experiences, I phoned a colleague to talk about the implications
“For every complicated problem, there is a solution that is direct, understandable, and wrong.” – H. L Mencken We have overwhelming data that while our nation’s high schools serve some students well, they serve yet more students poorly, and many others not at all: About 70 percent of the nation’s ninth graders graduate from high school four years later, but
Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade by Linda Perlstein (Henry Holt, 320 pages, $25.00) Tested immerses us in a year at an alleged NCLB success story, Annapolis, Maryland’s Tyler Heights Elementary School, a struggling school serving a district’s most underprepared children. Linda Perlstein illustrates how much an energetic, savvy group of educators can accomplish; we cheer even
During the summer of 2006, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and union officials announced that the Pico Union area of East Los Angeles would soon be home to the Belmont Zone of Choice (BZC). The BZC encompasses the Belmont High School attendance area and will include up to 10 Belmont Pilot Schools, each with a targeted enrollment of 400
CES National Affiliate Centers The central presence of several Coalition of Essential Schools National Affiliate Centers – the Center for Collaborative Education, the Los Angeles Small Schools Collective, the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools, CES Northwest, and the Michigan Coalition of Essential Schools – in this issue of Horace emphasizes the crucial role that intermediary organizations play in transforming