New International School of Japan (NewIS) is a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). CES consists of innovative high schools, mostly based in the United States. The organization was founded by Theodore Sizer of Brown University, along with like-minded educators, who worked to redefine what a high school should be, in contrast to the traditional model.
Steven Parr, the Founding Director of NewIS, attended the CES Fall Forum in San Francisco in early November. He was struck by the emergent language that NewIS has already been using in their orientations and seminars: language such as “standards without standardization,” this year’s theme at NewIS; “collaboration;” and “formative assessment” (as opposed to summative assessment). The CES schools work to keep a focus on “what I am learning” instead of focusing on the anxiety-related to “how am I doing?” when compared to the other students’ performances.
For more information about the Coalition of Essential Schools, see http://www.essentialschools.org. For more information about New International School of Japan, see http://newis.ed.jp. The school extended to Grade 11 this year, and will add Grade 12 in 2014-15.
