[ola] CES Common Principles
- From: Darcy Rogers <rogersdr25@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 17:53:59 -0700 (PDT)
For those of you who are interested, these are the Common Principles of CES
(Coalition of Essential Schools). They are 10 principles that put the focus on
the student, and off the teacher. OLA incorporates almost all of these
principles. Take a look if you would like!!
The CES Common Principles, based on decades of research and practice, are a
guiding philosophy rather than a replicable model for schools. This research
and practice reflects the wisdom of thousands of educators who are successfully
engaged in creating personalized, equitable, and academically challenging
schools for all young people. The CES Common Principles describe the core
beliefs and characteristics of Essential Schools and work in tandem with
the CES Benchmarks, which describe resulting practices that successfully
bolster student achievement.
The Spanish translation of the Common Principles can be found here: Los
Princípios Generales
Learning to use one’s mind well
The school should focus on helping young people learn to use their minds well.
Schools should not be "comprehensive" if such a claim is made at the expense of
the school's central intellectual purpose
Less is more, depth over coverage The school's goals should be simple: that
each student master a limited number of essential skills and areas of
knowledge. While these skills and areas will, to varying degrees, reflect the
traditional academic disciplines, the program's design should be shaped by the
intellectual and imaginative powers and competencies that the students need,
rather than by "subjects" as conventionally defined. The aphorism "less is
more" should dominate: curricular decisions should be guided by the aim of
thorough student mastery and achievement rather than by an effort to merely
cover content.
Goals apply to all students The school's goals should apply to all students,
while the means to these goals will vary as those students themselves vary.
School practice should be tailor-made to meet the needs of every group or class
of students.
Personalization Teaching and learning should be personalized to the maximum
feasible extent. Efforts should be directed toward a goal that no teacher have
direct responsibility for more than 80 students in the high school and middle
school and no more than 20 in the elementary school. To capitalize on this
personalization, decisions about the details of the course of study, the use of
students' and teachers' time and the choice of teaching materials and specific
pedagogies must be unreservedly placed in the hands of the principal and staff.
Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach The governing practical metaphor of the
school should be student-as-worker, rather than the more familiar metaphor of
teacher-as-deliverer-of-instructional-services. Accordingly, a prominent
pedagogy will be coaching, to provoke students to learn how to learn and thus
to teach themselves.
Demonstration of mastery Teaching and learning should be documented and
assessed with tools based on student performance of real tasks. Students not
yet at appropriate levels of competence should be provided intensive support
and resources to assist them quickly to meet those standards. Multiple forms of
evidence, ranging from ongoing observation of the learner to completion of
specific projects, should be used to better understand the learner's strengths
and needs, and to plan for further assistance. Students should have
opportunities to exhibit their expertise before family and community. The
diploma should be awarded upon a successful final demonstration of mastery for
graduation - an "Exhibition." As the diploma is awarded when earned, the
school's program proceeds with no strict age grading and with no system of
credits earned" by "time spent" in class. The emphasis is on the students'
demonstration that they can do important things.
A tone of decency and trust The tone of the school should explicitly and
self-consciously stress values of unanxious expectation ("I won't threaten you
but I expect much of you"), of trust (until abused) and of decency (the values
of fairness, generosity and tolerance). Incentives appropriate to the school's
particular students and teachers should be emphasized. Parents should be key
collaborators and vital members of the school community.
Commitment to the entire school The principal and teachers should perceive
themselves as generalists first (teachers and scholars in general education)
and specialists second (experts in but one particular discipline). Staff should
expect multiple obligations (teacher-counselor-manager) and a sense of
commitment to the entire school.
Resources dedicated to teaching and learning Ultimate administrative and budget
targets should include student loads that promote personalization, substantial
time for collective planning by teachers, competitive salaries for staff, and
an ultimate per pupil cost not to exceed that at traditional schools by more
than 10 percent. To accomplish this, administrative plans may have to show the
phased reduction or elimination of some services now provided students in many
traditional schools.
Democracy and equity The school should demonstrate non-discriminatory and
inclusive policies, practices, and pedagogies. It should model democratic
practices that involve all who are directly affected by the school. The school
should honor diversity and build on the strength of its communities,
deliberately and explicitly challenging all forms of inequity.
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