LACES
The Los Angeles Coalition of Essential Schools is the southern California regional center of the Coalition of Essential Schools, a national network committed to education reform and increasing student achievement by re-inventing school design, classroom practice, leadership, and community connections.
CES’s history dates back to the mid 1980’s. CES’s founder, Ted Sizer, led a nation-wide study of comprehensive high schools, which showed that their size and organization, lack of clear focus and priorities, and over-all “shopping mall” culture made an intellectual focus and high standards almost impossible to achieve. In his books, Horace’s Compromise, Horace’s School, and Horace’s Hope, Sizer lays out his findings, and develops proposals for alternatives, based on ten common principles that guide disciplined reflection and equitable redesign by school people.
LACES assists schools in their change work through its core belief of putting students at the center of this enterprise. The results for and by the students are “non-negotiable,” in that student learning and success is paramount. The essential questions, “What do our students need to know and be able to do?” and “What do we need to do to achieve this?” are posed by those adults (teachers and parents) closest to the student.
Viewed as a diagram, the student is in the center, and the second circle contains parents and teachers; that circle of support is surrounded by a third, representing the school and the community. The district is the last circle.
In this model, each concentric circle moving out represents a constituency that supports the work of the group in the next concentric circle closer in to the students, asking: “What support, resources, and assistance do you need to do your work?”
The 10 Common Principles—rather than a model of a perfect school or perfect practice—provide the common thread among Coalition schools. A principle-based approach assumes that teachers, administrators, and community members are, in fact, “designers” and “inventors,” as opposed to being “implementers.” LACES assumes that good schools must be finely attuned to their students and to local needs and resources. The faculty and community of a LACES 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.
LACES believes that each school has its own unique characteristics, depending upon its history, community, students, and faculty. At the same time, all LACES schools address common issues such as equity and access, personalization, using one’s mind well, and advocacy and inclusion of families and communities. CES schools reflect their individuality in organization and practice as they use the Common Principles as discussion points to guide their work.
Thus, our work derives its spirit from the Common Principles, while being tailored to the specific context and needs of each school and its community. We use an intellectually rich, hands-on, participatory approach to inquiring into and figuring out how to address the real problems, challenges, and opportunities inherent in this work. We are committed to a process that is patient, compassionate, persevering, and holds high expectations for everyone’s work. Acting on this philosophy and values, and with our consistent positive support, we can contribute to your success in achieving the implementation of a school design that will result in:
- Powerful learning for students and the achievement of their dreams
- A dynamic professional learning community for educators
- Effective capacity building for the community around efforts to support school success