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Watkinson is a Lead School for the Coalition of Essential Schools (www.essentialschools.org), one of only 5 schools to be so honored. The Coalition’s Ten Common Principles form the daily basis of an outstanding education. At Watkinson, these principles are more than just good ideas, they are direct manifestations of our mission to "give students the power to shape their lives and the world around them." The proof is in the statements we hear from our students.

Match each principle below to the student voice at right that illustrates it. Click on each question to see if you got it right.
Q. 
1. The school should focus on helping young people learn to use their minds well.

Q. 2. “Less is more”: curricular decisions should be guided by the aim of thorough student mastery and achievement rather than by an effort to merely cover content.

Q. 3. The school’s goals should apply to all students, while the means to these goals will vary as those students themselves vary. School practice should be tailor-made to meet the needs of every group or class of students.

Q. 
5. The governing metaphor of the school should be “student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach,” rather than the more familiar “teacher-as-deliverer-of-instructional-services.”

Q. 6. Teaching and learning should be documented and assessed with multiple forms of evidence.

Q. 7. The tone of the school should explicitly and self-consciously stress values of unanxious expectation, trust, and decency. Parents should be key collaborators and vital members of the school community.

Q. 
8. The principal and teachers should perceive themselves as generalists first (teachers and scholars in general education) and specialists second.

Q. 9. Administrative and budget targets should include appropriate teacher loads, substantial time for collective planning by teachers, and competitive salaries for staff.

Q. 
10. The school should demonstrate non-discriminatory, democratic, and inclusive policies, practices, and pedagogies, deliberately challenging all forms of inequity.
Student Voices
A. “Everyone learns in a different way and has different strengths and weaknesses, just like at every other school. But Watkinson not only admits this, they actually make it part of the class.”

B. “It doesn’t matter if it’s English or biology or Spanish or whatever. In every class you learn to write and research and ask questions and make connections between ideas.”

C. “Everyone expects a lot from you, but it’s not a stressful thing.”

D. “This stuff gets your brain going.”

E. “We learn about things that matter. And we really learn it. We’re not just racing through the book to be done.”

F. “It’s good that tests are only one part. When you’re putting together a portfolio you can show so much more about what you really learned.”

G. “My teachers are awesome. And they seem to really like their jobs.”

H. “You have to take responsibility for your own education. It’s like the teacher is the director and you’re the actor. But they’re always there to help you if you need it.”

I. “My teachers know me. They can tell when to push me harder, help me out, or leave me alone.”

J. “Even if they don’t agree with you, people here listen to what you have to say.”