School-University Partnerships and Collaborations Featured in What Matters Most
Coalition of Essential Schools
The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), established in 1984 by Theodore Sizer, is a comprehensive school reform organization focused on fundamentally changing the way people think about teaching and learning. CES is a growing network of more than 1,000 elementary, middle, and high schools-97% public, 42% urban, 31% suburban, 27% rural-seeking to promote higher student achievement and to develop more nurturing school communities. The work of CES schools is supported by 19 regional centers and the CES national office located in Oakland, California. CES is guided by ten common principles, which are designed to be adapted to local needs while maintaining several bottom-line elements of successful schooling. The principles, summarized below, aim at helping all students learn to use their minds well:
- Instruction should promote active learning rather than passive absorption, and teaching should be individualized so that all students can succeed.
- Curriculum should be designed to stress depth of understanding rather than superficial coverage of material.
- Students should be assessed based on active demonstration of their abilities to synthesize knowledge and to solve real-world problems.
- The school should stress a tone of decency and mutual respect, and must be designed so that each student can be known well by at least one adult.
- Families should be invited to play an active role in school life.
Schools that have successfully adopted these principles have achieved striking advances in student achievement.
International High School at LaGuardia Community College, New York City
International High School, a multicultural, alternative educational high school in New York City for recent arrivals to this country, serves students with varying degrees of limited English proficiency. A collaborative project between the New York City Board of Education and LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York, this school offers a high school/college curriculum combining substantive study of all subject matters and intensive study and reinforcement of the English language. The mission of The International High School is to enable each student to develop the linguistic, cognitive, and cultural skills necessary for success in high school, college, and beyond.
League of Professional Schools
The League of Professional Schools is a practitioner-driven network of schools (housed in the College of Education at the University of Georgia) in which each school initiates and implements a democratic learning community that is student-oriented and focused on improving teaching and learning for all. The League works with schools to break down barriers to communication within and among schools, helping schools to study themselves and evaluate instructional goals. This is a voluntary program that uses shared governance to plan instructional initiatives; decisions are made by all members of the faculty, based on knowledge of student needs, effective instruction, community expectations, and methods and products of research. Recognized as one of the most outstanding educational collaborations in the nation, the League is a three-time recipient of the Certificate of Merit awarded by the National Business-Higher Education Forum.
Southern Maine Partnership
The Southern Maine Partnership strives to support the development of schools that fulfill the promise of public education through promoting equity for all learners now and in the future. The Southern Maine Partnership connects 35 school districts, two independent schools, two colleges, and the University of Southern Maine. It has achieved a regional, statewide, and national reputation as a center for school-based, educator-driven school reform, and as an organization that respects the professional knowledge of educators and acknowledges both their skills and the challenging conditions under which they work. At the same time, the Partnership nurtures teachers' and administrators' potential as inventors and change agents. Six Southern Maine Partnership districts host professional development schools for the University of Southern Maine Extended Teacher Education Program. Partnership activities include a variety of collaborative and professional development opportunities open to all members. Funded projects engage schools more deeply in work focused around involving teaching, learning, and assessment, school structures and leadership, and community engagement.
|
