Theodore Sizer Educational Reformer

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Theodore SizerEducational Reformer

• Meghan OConnor
• Amanda Reagan
• November 1, 2006

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Theodore (Ted) Sizer

• A little about Ted . . .
• His contributions to education
• Impact on curriculum (group activity)
• Ted and Nancy
• Conclusion

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A Little About Ted . . .

• Biography
• Born June 23, 1932 in New Haven, CT
• BA, Yale University
• Doctorate, Harvard University
• Credentials
• Teacher
• Dean, Graduate School of Education, Harvard
• Headmaster, Phillips Academy
• Professor and Chair of Education Department,
  Brown
• Founder, Coalition of Essential Schools (1984)
• Founder, Annenberg Institute for School Reform
• Co-Principal (with Nancy), Parker School

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A Little About Ted . . .

• Writings
• Places for Learning, Places for Joy (1973)
• Horaces School Redesigning the American High
  School (1992)

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His Contributions to Education

• Arguably the leading educational
• reformer in the United States

An educational progressive who believes that the
current education system is not doing its job
Did not just give theories he put his
theories into practice.
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His Contributions to Education

• Coalition of Essential Schools (CES)
• Founded by Sizer in 1984
• Result of five-year study conducted with
  colleagues
• Horaces Compromise (1984)
• Schools fail to help students use their minds
  well
• Lack of focus
• Class periods too short
• Little emphasis on connections between subjects
• Teacher/student ratio too high
• Assessment focused on quick grading vs.
  demonstrated
• depth of understanding

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His Contributions to Education

• Coalition of Essential Schools (CES)
• Essential
• Focus on few most essential things
• Meet them head on
• Do not try to do and be everything
• Schools reflect their communities, no two schools
  alike
• Coalition is critical
• Collaboration, borrowing
• How communities can assist each other
• Top-down reform models do not work
• Common principles that can be adapted to specific
  communities will drive positive change in
  education

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Coalition of Essential Schools (CES)

• BASIC PRINCIPLES

• Learning to use ones mind well
• Less is more, depth over coverage
• Goals apply to all students
• Personalization
• Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach

• Demonstration of mastery
• A tone of decency and trust
• Commitment to the entire school
• Resources dedicated to teaching and learning
• Democracy and equality

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Group Activity

• Five groups
• Using the hand-out as a reference, each group
  will answer one of the following questions
• Choose a subject and discuss the impact these
  principles might have on designing curriculum
  (what is taught to learners) for that
  particular subject.
• What is the impact of these principles on
  instruction (how curriculum is taught to
  learners)?
• Choose a subject and design an assessment that
  will enable students to demonstrate mastery of
  that subject.
• You are a teacher in an essential school, walk us
  through a day in the life.
• Based on your understanding of these principles,
  discuss the top three pros and cons of essential
  schools.
• Group debrief

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Coalition of Essential Schools

• Results
• Better attendance, lower drop out rate
• Better academic performance
• Positive behavioral impact
• Greater number continuing to higher education
• Critics
• Have to change schools if disagree with narrow
  focus
• Impedes rite of passage progression
• Too difficult to get people to change how they
  think
• Reflection 20 years later
• Problem is with systems, not people
• Change will not be as dramatic as initially hoped
• Parents need to help drive change
• Charter schools/Essential schools

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Ted and Nancy

• Nancy Sizer also a seasoned, well respected
  educator
• In retirement Co-Principals, Francis W. Parker
  Charter Essential School
• Co-authored The Students are
• Watching Schools and
• the Moral Contract

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What this means to Curriculum

• Not a list of items to be checked off
• Against drill-lecture-test system of unconnected
  material
• Inter-disciplinary instruction is the ideal way
  to teach a topic
• Less breadth and more depth
• Student driven curriculum

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So take another look.

• SCHOOLS SHOULD to name a few
• Teach mental skills (i.e. independence and
  creative writing)
• Use students curiosity to drive curriculum
• Use in-depth projects not tests
• Interdisciplinary study rather than segregated
  subjects
• Collaboration between students and teachers

do you agree or disagree??
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Thank You! Questions or Comments?