Coalition of Essential Schools

The Coalition of Essential Schools was founded by Theodore R. Sizer in 1984. Based at Brown University and committed to centralized management, the Coalition focused geographically on schools on the East Coast. Over time, the Coalition grew. The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is a grass-roots network of approximately 1,000 schools and twenty regional centers around the country that seek to enact a set of ideas put forth by the American educator Theodore R. Sizer in Horace's Compromise (1984).With the growth of CES, these regional Centers coordinate the CES inspired reforms. These reforms are the focus of the Essential Schools Movement, and are based on an individualized focus in order for each student to reach their full potential. On July 1st, 1998 Theodore R. Sizer officially severed CES's ties to Brown University and relocated CES to California, where it continues to be headquartered. Theodore R. Sizer served as Chairman of the organization until his passing in 2009. Today, the Coalition of Essential Schools movement is headed by a rotating board of directors consisting of educators from Coalition Schools throughout the nation. The CES national office administers CES University, a series of professional development institutes offered around the country by and for educators from the CES network and beyond. The national office also organizes an annual Fall Forum, where thousands of teachers and administrators come together to learn and to share strategies and experiences. Horace, the CES journal, seeks out important work and helps keep the network abreast of new findings in educational research. CES also conducts a program of research to track the results of CES schools and operates an advocacy program, to help inform educators and the public about the coalition's approach to schooling.