Coalition of Essential Schools records (UA.2010.12.30)

The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) records cover the founding and early years of the organization, from 1984-2012.

The Committee for School Research and Design contains research conducted by the Committee in addition to the Principles at Work Study. The Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) Boston is the regional Center in the Northeast for CES, and its work for the CSRD study is included in this collection.

The creation of the Small Schools Network is also a major component in the CES collection. The Small Schools Network launches new small high schools and supports high school conversion through mentorship from existing CES schools. The CES Small Schools Network includes an annual Summer Institute and ongoing network meetings for new and mentor schools. Related materials can also be found in Series VIII, Studies.

Grant funding and correspondence comprise a large amount of the Development section of the collection. The collection contains detailed grant funding information, including the largely influential Bill and Melinda Gates foundation's contribution to the Coalition of Essential Schools.

The Coalition of Essential Schools University runs a series of professional development institutes offered around the country by and for educators from the CES network and beyond. An annual Fall Forum is run by CES, where thousands of teachers and administrators come together to learn and to share strategies and experiences.

The Other Media component of the CES Archives contains various forms of media, from Betamax, Mini-DV tapes, DVD’s, VHS’s and CD-ROMs. The bulk of the Other Media Series focuses on the creation of the CES Essential Vision's DVD, and individual School interviews throughout the Coalition.

Horace is a publication produced by CES. This publication provides a common forum for news, events and emerging ideas and strategies to be discussed and potentially implemented throughout the Coalition.

The Executive Board Meeting Series serves to provide a record of all financial planning for the Organization in addition to providing leadership over the whole of the Coalition of Essential Schools. The Executive Board is responsible for the direction of CES in addition to working with the national staff through Executive Board Congress meetings. Additionally, financial planning is another focus of the Executive Board, as demonstrated by the various business plans in the collection.