Coalition of Essential Schools CES

transforming public education – a project of Great Schools Partnership – Linked on our blogs with Great Schools Partnership.

We envision an educational system that equips all students with the intellectual, emotional, and social habits and skills to become powerful and informed citizens who contribute actively toward a democratic and equitable society. Acknowledging that no two schools are or should be alike, we envision schools that necessarily differ from each other in size, scope, and programmatic emphasis while that sharing common principles, practices, and the hallmarks of powerful learning communities within and among each other … (full text Vision).

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Address: Coalition of Essential Schools, c/o Great Schools Partnership, attention: Darlene Hart, 482 Congress Street, Suite 500, Portland, ME 04101, USA;
Contact online.

About: The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is at the forefront of creating and sustaining personalized, equitable, and intellectually challenging schools. Essential schools are places of powerful learning where all students have the chance to reach their fullest potential.  

By coaching for cultures of continuous improvement and powerful professional learning communities focused on student achievement, CES works with educators to support and promote innovative and effective teaching.

CES works with school districts and other entities to shape the policy conditions that support and promote schools characterized by personalization, democracy and equity, intellectual vitality and excellence, and graduates who experience success in all aspects of their lives: educational, professional, civic, and personal … //

…The CES Network and Essential Schools:

The CES Network includes hundreds of schools and more than two dozen Affiliate Centers. Diverse in size, population, and programmatic emphasis, Essential schools serve students from pre-kindergarten through high school in urban, suburban, and rural communities.

CES practice is exemplified by small, personalized learning communities in which teachers and students know each other well in a climate of trust, decency and high expectations for all. Essential schools work to create academic success for every student by sharing decision-making with all those affected by the schools and deliberately and explicitly confronting all forms of inequity. Essential schools focus on helping all students use their minds well through standards-aligned interdisciplinary studies, community-based « real-world » learning and performance-based assessment. (full text).