School Partnerships

During the past two decades, the school-reform movement has struggled with the fundamental question of how to support existing schools as they enact new principles and programs.  The question of how to implement reform effectively is one about which much has been written, and while several promising models exist, many educators continue to grapple with this question.

The theory behind the work of the Sizer Teachers Center is that schools involved in reform—whether existing or new schools—benefit most from professional development that is carried out by people engaged in and committed to the same type of work.  We believe that our teachers, who are themselves practitioners committed to helping students be successful in school, can effectively provide partnership and facilitation to people in other schools involved in the challenging and sometimes complicated process of change.

Currently Parker is involved in a long-term partnership withNorth Central Charter  School (Fitchburg, MA) as part of the National Mentor Schools Project of the Coalition of Essential Schools.  We also work with other high schools in Massachusetts who have contracted with us for other projects, small and large.

Some of our current projects include:

-         facilitating the implementation of backward design (“Understanding by Design”) principles for a group of 20 teachers in a pilot small-school initiative in a large comprehensive high school

-         facilitating a Critical Friends Group for leaders involved in small-schools conversion

-         partnering with the Consensus Building Institute to facilitate a conversation among schools involved in the federal Small Learning Communities initiative

-         assisting two local high schools with the implementation of Senior Projects programs

-         as part of our work as a Coalition of Essential Schools National Mentor, participating in conversations around school design, program evaluation, and professional development planning for Leominster High School (Leominster, MA)

-         working with the leadership teams of two large comprehensive high schools to consider ways to develop collegial, professional learning communities in their schools

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