Theodore Sizer: Rebuilding Education Through Principled Conversations

Theodore Sizer was deeply involved in the educational reform efforts of the 1980s and 1990s, drawing on a diverse educational background through which he would develop his primary contribution to education – the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) based on 10 Common Principles in education. He shared his research and efforts through the well-received and accessible trilogy of books about a teacher he created from his observations and study in American schools named Horace: Horace’s Compromise, Horace’s School, and Horace’s Hope. Dedicated to a foundational belief that all students can learn if provided with a caring environment and educators who know them, he saw a need to challenge traditional education, giving students a personalized and contextual curriculum and pedagogy where less was more. Sizer wanted to rebuild American schools to move beyond the late twentieth century tradition that continues to be the “accepted model” of schools. Offering no model, he instead preferred a continual conversation on what citizens believe education’s purpose is and an interpretation of his principles at the school level allowing different schools to join CES on their terms. His death in 2009 left an unfinished legacy, explored by this chapter. Here, the essence of Theodore Sizer’s work is explored, with a focus on not only CES but also giving his voice primacy in the text. Sizer’s belief in students and his accessible sharing of open ideas reveal a humble man who always found himself to be in the right time and place to learn, ready to share his own learning with students and peers in his care.