The Ten Common Principles
of the Coalition of Essential Schools

1.    Help students learn to use their minds well.

2.    Emphasize depth over breadth.

3.    Apply the school's goals to all students.

4.    Personalize teaching and learning.

5.    Embrace the metaphor "student as worker, teacher as coach."

6.    Require students to demonstrate mastery through exhibition.

7.    Stress un-anxious expectation, trust, and decency.

8.    Consider teachers as generalists with a commitment to the entire school.

9.    Develop budgets that reflect the Coalition of Essential Schools' priorities.

10.   Model democratic and equitable practices.

The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is a national network of schools and centers engaged in restructuring schools to promote better student learning and achievement.

CES envisions a future where all American schools are places where intellectual excitement animates every child's face, where teachers work together to get better at their craft, and where all children flourish, regardless of their gender, race, or class. To reach this goal, we lead the reinvention of schooling through transformations of school design, classroom practice, leadership, and community connections.

The work of CES schools is supported by 19 regional centers and CES National, located in Oakland, California.

What is a CES School?

Despite the great diversity of schools in our network, CES schools share a common set of beliefs about the purpose and practice of schooling. These ideas are known as the CES Common Principles. This set of simple but powerful ideas reflects more than two decades of careful research and examined practice and is used to guide whole-school reform efforts in the areas of school design, classroom practice, leadership, and community connections. The Common Principles do not provide a fixed approach to change. Rather, they are used to focus each school's effort to rethink its priorities and redesign its structures and practices. Each school develops its own programs, suited to its particular students, faculty, and community. Hence, no two CES schools are exactly alike.

CES recognizes that fundamental reform is a lengthy process. Schools interested in the Coalition begin their work by exploring the ideas promoted by the Common Principles. Teachers, administrators, parents, and other community members are invited to discuss school reform and the potential effects that the enactment of the Common Principles might have on school programs. If the work of the Coalition fits with the school's needs, the planning stage begins. At this point, a school develops a vision statement that aligns the CES Principles with school goals and develops action plans for translating the vision into practice. Furthermore, they demonstrate evidence of school-wide commitment to the CES Principles and agree to share their learning with other schools and communities.


For more information, www.essentialschools.org