#1 – “learning to use one’s mind well”

First of three issues on key principles from the Coalition of Essential Schools.[i]

Before teachers send in final grades and take down this year’s posters and clean their desks, I hope some schools—in particular, high schools— might pause and consider one key idea. Perhaps useful at an end-of-year faculty meeting, a

In AV #285 Commissioner Susana Córdova spoke of what academic skills we teach, and touched on the why. I promised to return to this issue. I wrote: “If we decide the purpose of high school is to prepare students for a job—perhaps for the day after they graduate—how will that fundamentally change the academic mission of those 9-12 years?”

way to encourage reflection on a school’s central purpose. After thinking hard about its priorities over the summer, when it reconvenes in August, it can clarify its purpose and articulate its chief goals.

Another View has criticized efforts by state leaders and organizations to redefine the purpose of education. I put my hope in schools where administrators, faculty, and parents are willing to block out the noise and affirm: this is what we are about. Although we cannot do it all, we can do this: we can fulfill our academic mission. Such clarity might help schools begin the 2025-26 school year in a better place. (Hardly an original idea. See Addendum A: “Our schools have lost their sense of purpose.”)

You say: Aren’t Colorado schools reflecting in this manner with their Unified Improvement Plans? No. Even the new streamlined UIP addresses a multitude of issues (the what), without tackling more fundamental matters (the why). We need to ask bigger questions.

This idea applies especially well, I believe, to our chronically low-performing high schools. On March 12 the State Board of Education was given an update by the Colorado Department of Education on several of these schools, all on Performance Watch. My comment in #285:

Questions were raised: after 15 years of trying to turn around these schools, how is it we still seem to have no clear idea of how to do this well? Looking at the grim results, one board member was reminded of a “hamster’s cage.” Efforts that go nowhere.

At that March 12 Board meeting, we heard this exchange. I found CDE’s response deeply troubling.

Board member Dr. Lisa Escarcega asked if CDE was seeing, at the national level, any effective high school models, serving “student populations” similar to the Colorado schools under review that day, that Colorado might learn from.

Andy Swanson, Director of Transformation Strategy: Right now we don’t have those answers but we have search and research and (are) looking at diving into this specific question of trying to find national models of schools with demographics like these six schools specifically, and what are they doing in the last few years. [Swanson’s emphasis.] I will say we have some examples from 2014, 2015, 2016 … some of that work just isn’t germane anymore, the dramatic shift that’s happened over the last 8-10 years to education has caused some of those strategies not to work in the way they used to, but … right now this spring we have some research underway that we’re hoping to have something to help these sites imminently.

“Isn’t germane”? This summer Another View will highlight three of the 10 principles from the Coalition of Essential Schools, led by Ted Sizer. First articulated in the late 1980’s. This was the high school reform effort in Colorado that I followed closely 30 years ago. The Colorado Department of Education committed a full-time coordinator to redesign high schools in Adams 12, Mapleton, Fort Lupton, Pagosa Springs, Pueblo 70, and Roaring Fork. (As a foundation program officer, I had the good fortune to visit the schools committed to this restructuring, 1991-1995).

“Old” ideas. Outdated? Thirty years ago CDE was pleased to advocate for these principles. Swanson’s dismissal of effective restructuring work from just a decade ago makes me wonder: Do we now believe we have little to learn from past efforts? Isn’t this mindset—everything changes, nothing endures—one of public education’s essential flaws? (See AV#271, “Continuity and change,” last year’s return to the private school where I first taught 50 years ago.)

I write #286-#288 confident we can learn from educators like Ted Sizer, regarded by many as the most influential figure on how to rethink the American high school. Addendum B offers two examples of his insights, from 1995. Both strike me as entirely relevant in 2025.

1) the folly of looking for models to copy and “implement” (see Escarcega/Swanson above), and

2) caution about the value of state and national standards (my comments below).

Reflection on fundamentals, clarity of purpose

We all suffer when our “priorities” are anything but, when they become an extensive list of what we “must do” (see our UIPs[ii]). In following the work of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), I heard this profound remark—a wry observation—on the mission statement of public education: “You name it, we start it,” OR, “We just say yes.”

Further reason for each school to ask: are we clear on what is most important?

After reflecting on this principle, each school will have its own questions. I offer a few that respond to the current orthodoxy, where “work-based learning” (see the 1215 Task Force, Addendum C) has supplanted academic learning as our priority.

One of the 10 common principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools

1. Learning to use one’s mind well
The school should focus on helping young people learn to use their minds well. Schools should not be “comprehensive” if such a claim is made at the expense of the school’s central intellectual purpose.

A school might ask: Is our high school’s academic mission central to our design and to our day-to-day work? Or is it now more vital to see that we are connecting students to the workforce, and where possible, to be sure they are “job ready” the day they graduate?

While we want to encourage “hands-on learning” where we can, isn’t it our primary job is to engage our students in ways that enable them “to use their minds well”? (6 examples in AV#285.)

To that end, what is our school’s commitment to teach to the Colorado Academic Standards? The massive documents for each of the 10 standards at the Colorado Department of Education’s website[iii] make it clear: it is all too much. But can we clarify which components of the standards we do believe are essential for our students, in our setting? Three points to consider:

1) The state standards no longer seem important. CDE’s 2017-23 Strategic Plan included this goal: “Regardless of demographics and learning needs, all students meet or exceed state academic standards.”[iv] The new Strategic Plan from CDE[v] makes no mention of the standards.

2) The 1215 Task Force ignores our academic standards.

3) Ted Sizer’s skepticism of the standards in 1995 (Addendum B) looks prophetic. Look at his words—we “sag” at these “gargantuan lists.” It’s too much to cover; little will be done well. (AV #287 will explore this in a second Coalition principle: Less is more–Depth over coverage.)

However, we do want our students “to use their minds well.” What PORTIONS of the state standards do we believe are useful targets for our school, for our student body?

Preparing for citizenship

In 2025, given this political environment, at our school, how essential is it that we educate our students for citizenship? And if it is vital, how do we articulate this goal to our community?

On this issue, three readings might help as we set priorities for 2025-26.

1) The state’s standards do ask future citizens “to learn to use their mind’s well.” (See impressive selections from Colorado’s Social Studies and Reading Standards for High School - Addendum D.)

2) “Educating young Americans for citizenship is our school’s top job,”[vi] by Chester E. Finn.

3) Martin Luther King, Jr.’s statement on “the purpose of education”[vii] (from 1947). Still relevant? If it is, we might ask if our school is meeting these expectations.

(Bold mine)

“Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. “The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically….”

Our academic mission: What a school might say (and not say) as it begins 2025-26

“Lately we have been told and told again that our educators are not preparing American youth to be efficient workers. Workers. That language is so common among us now that an extraterrestrial might think we had actually lost the Cold War.”[viii] Marilynne Robinson

We are eager to provide our students a K-12 education that will serve as a strong foundation for the rest of their lives. We want them to have the knowledge and skills that will enable them to fulfill their potential and to become effective citizens in our democracy. To that end, it is our purpose as educators to help them learn to use their mind’s well. It is not all we hope to accomplish, but this much is essential.

Addendum A

“Our schools have lost their sense of purpose”

Tim Daly, chief executive director of Ed Navigation, former president of TNTP, proposed several (post-COVID) goals in his Substack, The Education Daly, including this one, below, March 2024. (Also published at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.) https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/our-schools-have-lost-their-sense-purpose.)

(Bold mine)

Focus on first principles at the school level. Some schools lost the thread somewhere in the fog of Covid—understandably. But now, their attention is all over the place. Folks are tired. Instead of staying the course with more professional development sessions on differentiating instruction, such schools should take time getting clear about their basic goals. Back to square one. Physical health and mental well-being have required outsized attention during this era—for good reason. However, we need to refocus on our academic mission. There’s no shame in high standards for our students and high expectations for our educators. Kids can do homework. They can study for tests. They can write essays. They can stay off social media during class. They can submit science fair projects. They can show up five days a week. If we treat our students—particularly those from lower-income backgrounds—as though they are so damaged by the pandemic that they can’t possibly meet real challenges, they won’t. We’ve learned that the hard way.

Addendum B

Ted Sizer – on looking for a model "to implement," and on national standards

From a 1995 interview, “On Lasting School Reform: A Conversation with Ted Sizer,” by John O’Neil, Educational Leadership, Feb. 1995

By 1995 nearly 1,000 schools across the country were affiliated with the Coalition of Essential Schools and working to implement many of its “common principles.”[ix]

(Bold mine)

1. O’Neil asked how the Coalition strategy differed from some other reforms.

Sizer: “… we offer no model. There’s nothing that you just ‘put into place,’ nothing to ‘implement.’ Our research suggests that you’re not going to get significant, long-term reform unless you have subtle but powerful support and collaboration among teachers, students, and the families of those in a particular community. Without that you can get short-term changes in instruction, but you won’t get at the heart of reform—which is the willingness of the kids to work hard on important things.”

2. He was skeptical of the national standards being developed in the mid-90’s.

Sizer: “... they come up with these gargantuan lists preceded with fiery rhetoric, which heads schools in the wrong direction….”

O’Neil: It does seem that some of the content standards originating from these national groups are going to be quite lengthy and, perhaps, overwhelming to schools.

Sizer: “While recognizing and appreciating the good will behind all that work, most of us who have taught a long time look at the national standards and sag. This is particularly true of those who are teaching high school kids living under terrible conditions. You know, one-fifth to one-third of our kids are growing up in conditions of danger and misery. So you read these lists, and you look at the kid who has just watched his brother get shot, and you say: Where is the country going?”

Addendum C

Colorado Department of Education

Secondary, Postsecondary and Work-Based Learning Integration (1215) Task Force

Overview - Per H.B. 22-1215, the primary responsibilities of the task force are:

(Bold mine)

Coordinating with the Education Leadership Council and the State Work Force Development Council in completing its duties.
Designing and recommending comprehensive, uniform policies that encourage and empower high schools and postsecondary institutions to create and sustain secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs in every region of the state. The task force shall design the policy recommendations to increase the number, coordination, and collaboration of these programs …
Designing and recommending policies to coordinate and expand innovative postsecondary and workforce credential options and career pathways available through secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs, with a focus on career pathways leading to credentials associated with high-need, in-demand, high-value businesses and industries.
Making recommendations concerning the creation of a statewide corps of counselors to assist students in identifying, understanding, and navigating options for secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs.
Making recommendations concerning methods for publicizing the requirements, benefits, and availability of secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs to students and families throughout the state.
Taking into account all existing and potential funding sources, designing policy recommendations that create a uniform and comprehensive funding mechanism for secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs ...
Recommending characteristics of and standards for secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs for purposes of authorizing and measuring the performance of these programs and make recommendations concerning how best to use data to build evidence of the long-term impact of these programs ...
Identifying challenges students face in accessing and completing credentials through secondary, postsecondary, and work-based learning integration programs and recommending ways to address and reduce these challenges. https://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/secondary_postsecondary_and_work-based_learning_integration_task_force

Addendum D

Educating for citizenship

Brief selections from the Colorado Academic Standards

From the Social Studies Standards for High School (pp. 113—145)

https://www.cde.state.co.us/cosocialstudies/cas-ss-p12-2022

(Bold mine)

Prepared Graduates: 6. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.

Grade Level Expectation: 1. Research and formulate positions on government policies and on local, state, tribal, and national issues to be able to participate and engage in a civil society.

Prepared Graduates: 7. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.

Grade Level Expectation: 2. Evaluate the purposes, roles, and limitations of the structures and functions of government.

Evidence outcomes. Students can: [three examples]

c. Analyze the processes for amending the Constitutions of Colorado and the United States and the significant changes that have occurred to those documents including both the Colorado and the United States’ Bills of Rights.

d. Explain the principles of a democracy and analyze how competing democratic values are balanced. For example: Freedom and security, individual rights and common good, general welfare, and rights and responsibilities.

e. Describe the role and development of the founding documents of Colorado and the United States from their inception to modern day. Including but not limited to: the Great Law of Peace, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutions of the United States and Colorado, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights.

From the Reading, Writing, and Communicating Standards for High School (pp. 137-165)

https://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting/2020cas-rw-p12

Reading

Prepared graduates: 4. Read a wide range of informational texts to build knowledge and to better understand the human experience.

Evidence outcomes - Students can: [two examples]

ii. Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (for example: in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (for example: The Federalist Papers, presidential addresses) by the end of 12th grade.

iii. Analyze 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (for example: The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features by the end of 12th grade.

Endnotes

[i] The three principles (among the ten) to be examined in Another View:

1. Learning to use one’s mind well
The school should focus on helping young people learn to use their minds well. Schools should not be “comprehensive” if such a claim is made at the expense of the school’s central intellectual purpose.

2. Less is more: depth over coverage
The school’s goals should be simple: that each student master a limited number of essential skills and areas of knowledge…. The aphorism “less is more” should dominate: curricular decisions should be guided by the aim of thorough student mastery and achievement rather than by an effort to merely cover content.

3. Personalization
Teaching and learning should be personalized to the maximum feasible extent. Efforts should be directed toward a goal that no teacher have direct responsibility for more than 80 students in the high school and middle school and no more than 20 in the elementary school.…

The 10 Common Principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools can be found at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230326054404/http://essentialschools.org/home/

[ii] Examples: The most recent UIP’s from three chronically low-performing high schools: Abraham Lincoln H.S. (11 pages), Aurora Central H.S. (19 pages), Adams City H.S. (26 pages). While the UIP asks schools to dig into the “root causes” of their challenges, at times their response becomes an extensive list of problems. For example, Aurora Central: “inconsistent instructional practices…. inconsistent assessment plan…. inconsistent development of leaders.…” Abraham Lincoln: “We did not have a unified strategy adhered to fort Attendance …. staff feedback revealed a disconnect between…. Teachers did not regularly participate in…. inconsistent implementation of interventions….”

[iii] Colorado Academic Standards, Colorado Department of Education, https://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/standards

The 10 Colorado Academic Standards

1.      Arts
2.      Comprehensive Health
3.      Computer Science
4.      Financial Literacy
5.      Mathematics
6.      Physical Education
7.      Reading, Writing, and Communicating
8.      Science
9.      Social Studies
10.   World Languages

[iv] Colorado Department of Education Strategic Plan, 2017-23. https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/cde_performance_plan_fy22-23.pdf#:~:text

[v] Colorado Department of Education Strategic Plan, 2025-28. https://go.boarddocs.com/co/cde/Board.nsf/files/DBMU857AC207/$file/11.13.24%20Strategic%20Plan%203.pdf

[vi] “Educating young Americans for citizenship is our schools’ top job,” Chester E. Finn, “Flypaper,” Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Sept. 1, 2022. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/educating-young-americans-citizenship-our-schools-top-job

[vii] “The Purpose of Education,” Martin Luther King, Jr., The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University, Jan-Feb. 1947, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/purpose-education

[viii] When I Was a Child I Read Books, by Marilynne Robinson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2012.