The brain-child of Ted Sizer, the Essential School concept is based on the belief that when students are actively involved in their own learning, schools can set the bar of expectations much higher. He ultimately elaborated nine principles that would guide the kind of alternative school he had in mind, including the doctrine that teaching being personalized and entailing coaching rather than imparting; that teachers and principals are able to make important educational decisions for themselves; that the curricula should focus on essential skills – reading, writing, oral presentation, mathematical problem-solving, scientific investigation – rather than broadly cover facts; and that students demonstrate "mastery" of a subject through oral presentations, rather than just passing tests.

Although often criticized as holding students to soft, unquantifiable standards, essential schools require high standards for promotion. At Parker School, the Charter School of which Sizer is principal, students must demonstrate excellence in various areas. In reading, for example, students exiting Division I are expected to identify an author's purpose and point of view; analyze the positions taken in a text and evidence offered in their support; evaluate writing strategies and elements of the author's craft, and so on, down through 20 criteria.

In 1984, Sizer established the Coalition of Essential Schools at Brown University, where he also taught. More than 1,000 schools are now associated with the coalition, of which 253 are considered "essential schools", having substantially restructured along the coalition's lines ³.

  Standards-Based Testing

3. James Traub, "Theodore Sizer: Education Theorist as Charter School Principal," The New York Times, August 2, 1998.