Small Schools, Big Ideas: The Essential Guide to Successful School Transformation

Small Schools, Big Ideas

This guide shows how the principle-based and equity-focused model from the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) can be used to redesign existing schools and create new schools that prepare students for this century's challenges and opportunities.

Filled with inspirational stories and illustrative examples from schools that have successfully implemented CES principles and practices, Small Schools, Big Ideas offers information and inspiration needed to:

• Transform schools in order to achieve equitable outcomes for all students

• Understand various school design options

• Establish school vision, mission, and goals to raise educational expectations and results

• Develop transformational leadership

• Cultivate a professional learning community

• Implement student-centered teaching, learning, and curricula

• Build productive relationships with families and communities

• Establish strategies for sustainability

These recommendations and proven strategies can help educators transform their schools to become truly equitable, personalized, and academically challenging.

Praise for Small Schools, Big Ideas

"Small Schools, Big Ideas tells the story of the next generation of Essential schools. The authors illu-strate the fundamental necessities of putting students at the center, trusting teachers and families, and instilling democratic practices. The Coalition of Essential Schools continues to light the way for schools as places of trust, imagination, and real learning; these principles and ideas that we developed and put into practice a quarter-century ago continue to evolve, and are still the best ways we know to create life-changing teaching and learning."

—Deborah Meier, Senior Scholar and Adjunct Professor, New York University

"For educators, policymakers, and anyone else working to improve education in America, Small Schools, Big Ideas is a tremendous resource. The authors draw on both research and direct experience to provide a detailed, practical, and inspiring analysis of what must be done to create the schools we need."

—Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University