Theodore R. Sizer Archives - Eagle Rock Blog

Eagle Rock Supports Continued Legacy of the Coalition of Essential Schools

If you’re even a casual supporter of progressive education, you’ve probably heard or read about the shuttering earlier this year of the national operations of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). Coming on the heels of more than three decades of ground-breaking work in student-centered teaching and learning, this well-celebrated school reform network ceased national operations at the end of January.

However, the formal closure does not spell an end to the education organization’s website, nor the resources available on that site. In fact, these resources — as well as the Essential Visions video collection and the CES benchmarks — remain available, enabling educators to receive the help and support they require to continue the practice of educational reform.

Of course, we here at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center stand ready and able to assist anyone interested in learning more about CES and its unparalleled resources for progressive educators going forward. As the convener of CES Centers, we are a full-service, not-for-profit educational reform organization that operates a year-round residential high school in Estes Park, Colo., and offers professional development services at school and community sites around the United States.

If you aren’t sure where to start, reach out and we will connect you with the appropriate CES Center that best serves your interests. Just use the Continue reading…

Educational Heroes For Eagle Rock Faculty & Staff

We recently asked some of our educators and staff members to come up with a list of people in the field of academia that they believe made a difference in their lives or inspired them to do things differently or better.

Here is a list of a few of those educators:

Theodore R. Sizer: Founder — and later president emeritus — of the Essential school movement, Sizer took on the task of questioning the way students were being taught in the nation’s secondary schools. By the late 1970s, he was involved with hundreds of high schools across the country.

What emerged from all of that research was the book Horace’s Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School, his 1984 eloquent call to arms for school reform. Sizer also he founded the Coalition of Essential Schools, which is based on the principles he put forth in his book.

Eagle Rock School is an official Coalition School and our Professional Development Center is not only an Affiliate Center, we are also the national coordinator of CES Centers.

John Goodlad: Written 15 years ago, Goodlad’s In Praise of Education described public education as a fundamental right in this country, calling it essential in the development of intelligent thinking within a democracy.

Other writings contributed by this educational theory-maker include The Moral Dimensions of Teaching, Places Where Teachers Are Taught, Teachers for Our Nation’s Schools, and Educational Renewal: Better Teachers, Better Schools.

Goodlad was instrumental in promoting educational reform by designing programs and personally diving into research on positive change for schools.

As a point of reference, Eagle Rock was a founding member of his League of Democratic Schools.

Kurt Hahn: This German educator, who is credited with playing a major leadership role in the effort to launch Outward Bound, founded an alliance of international schools called the United World Colleges. In addition, his thinking about school culture led to the creation of the 10 Expeditionary Learning Design Principles.

John Dewey: A pragmatic man — and an important contributor to functional psychology in this country — Dewey was also active in the realm of educational reform. Rather than sitting straight up at a desk in a classroom, Dewey espoused the concept of allowing children to learn while doing. By moving freely in and out of the classroom, his belief was that math, science and problem solving could be Continue reading…