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CCE Small Schools Network

Our Mission

The mission of the CCE Small Schools Network, launched through a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is to demonstrate the power of small schools in successfully educating our increasingly diverse student population and preparing them for productive future lives in a democratic world. The Network seeks to transform the face of public education to focus on creating small schools which embrace the values of democracy, equity, and personalization.

Why Small Schools?

Small Schools developed out of a fairly simple concept, that is, schools ought be places where each child is known, visible, and valued by at least one caring adult who takes responsibility and accepts accountability for his or her learning. Small Schools are an attempt to address systemic ineffectiveness through starting up new freestanding small schools and by redesigning and transforming large public schools.

The Small Schools movement seeks to improve dramatically the educational experiences and outcomes for students and families. Backed by research and a desire to improve conditions for student learning so that all students may participate fully in our democratic society, many large urban, rural, and suburban districts and schools have joined this movement to create a new vision of public education. This vision calls for maximum autonomy and flexibility in small schools planning and implementation, in exchange for strong accountability to ensure that reform efforts are successful in raising student achievement for all students, especially low-income students and students of color.

For further information, check out:

Meetings, events, registration forms

An outline summary of Small Schools design theory

The new, revised CCE small schools planning guide is now available from Corwin Press as Creating Small Schools: A Handbook for Raising Equity and Achievement.
Revised for 2005-2006, this beautiful, practical, hands-on manual has been developed to assist faculty, administrators, community representatives, parents, and others involved in small school planning and implementation. The intent of the manual is to provide a helpful context along with ideas, tools, and organizers to assist schools as they begin their work toward becoming small schools. Click here for full information or to order.

The original NESSN Small Schools Planning Guide (192 pages, 450KB, Acrobat® format)

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