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The 10 Common Principles
Learning to use one's mind well
Less is more, depth over coverage
Goals apply to all students
Personalization
Student-as-worker,
teacher-as-coach
Demonstration of mastery
Tone of decency and trust
Commitment to entire school
Resources dedicated to teaching and learning
Democracy and Equity
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Mission Statement
It is our mission to create democratic learning communities which work
toward rigorous academic equity for all students and teachers, regardless of
race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, color, national or ethnic origin,
age, or disability in the administration of its programs or activities, in
the recruitment and hiring of consultants and employees to further these
programs, or in its affiliation and support of schools and individuals.
Our Rationale
Our work is premised on our commitment to provide support to those who live
and work in educational communities - principals, teachers, students,
parents and others. Opportunities for professional development and critical
dialogue support the capacity of those in schools to strengthen their
communities. Our work does not prescribe change, but rather recognizes and
supports the potential of school communities to reinvent themselves as
rigorous and equitable centers of learning. We help to design deliberate
interventions to improve teacher knowledge and skills, to provide extra
assistance to students at risk of failure, and to build school communities
that are capable of responding to performance pressures.
We help to design professional development that develops the capacity of
teachers to work collectively on problems of practice, within their own
schools, and with practitioners in other settings. Reflective practice is an
integral component of the work of MACES. Reflection requires practitioners
to: deliberately pause, to take a purposeful look at the work they do; be
willing to be open to sharing others points of view; process thoughts
consciously; examine beliefs, goals and practices; gain new insights and
understandings; expand one's repertoire of strategies; take action as a
result of what's been learned.
"Becoming a part of a discourse community assures teachers that their
knowledge of their students and schooling is respected." (McLaughlin and
Lieberman, 1992, p. 674)
So... Who Are We?
The Coalition of Essential Schools: A Principle-Based Approach to School
Reform
The Mid-Atlantic Coalition of Essential Schools, Inc. (MACES) is a dynamic
organization dedicated to helping students to achieve their full potential
and to assist schools to become centers of excellence. MACES is one of
nineteen regional centers of the National Coalition of Essential Schools, a
school reform network of nearly 1000 schools founded by Theodore Sizer at
Brown University in 1984. MACES works to create schools where every student
is known well and learns to use his or her mind well. These ideas, referred
to as the Ten Common Principles, articulate a vision of students who achieve
and demonstrate a depth of knowledge and understanding.
It is clear that making the changes necessary to fulfill the vision of
education articulated by the Common Principles must happen school by school,
teacher by teacher, student by student, parent by parent, as the result of
deeply held and well understood convictions. While outsiders can be powerful
sources of ideas, inspiration and provocation, school reform is an
inescapably local phenomenon. At the same time, few schools, acting
individually, are able to make the changes necessary to fulfill the vision
of education articulated by the principles. For this reason, the Coalition
works at several levels.
A Principle-Based Approach to Reform
The Common Principles - rather than a model of any sort - provide the common
thread among Coalition schools. The principle-based approach assumes that
rather than being "implementers", teachers, administrators, and community
members are, in fact, "inventors". It assumes that good schools must be
finely attuned to their students and to their local needs and resources. The
faculty and community of a CES school must decide how to apply the
principles in its school's unique context, for the principles assert
powerful ideas about schooling rather than mandating a particular action.
Instead of serving as a blueprint for change, then, the Common Principles
challenge a school community to examine its priorities and to redesign
curriculum, instruction, assessment, and organizational structures. Each
school develops its own programs, suited to its particular students,
faculty, and community. No two Coalition schools are exactly alike, even
when they are striving to fulfill all of the Common Principles - and this,
in the Coalition's view, is as it should be.
MACES offers professional development opportunities for educators in keeping
with school reform initiatives and in accordance with Pennsylvania state
requirements. Dr. JoAnn Caplan, Executive Director, is responsible for the
design and coordination of the MACES continuing education program.
MACES works with schools to create personalized, "Small school" environments
that facilitate opportunities for all students to achieve and to be known.
Reference: Education Week, "Finding Their Voices", October 4, 2000 by
Kathleen Kennedy-Manzo.
Board Members
Rosemary Cataldi, President
Orion Freeman, Treasurer
Terri Clark, Secretary
Paul Adorno
Teresa Alvarez
Ralph Burnley
Estelle Freeman
Star Weiss
Howard Salasin (Emeritus)
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