Visiting a comment left on my April 29, 2009 post.
What is Expeditionary Learning?
According to the Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound website (http://www.elschools.org/), Expeditionary Learning Schools (ELS) Outward Bound is a nonprofit organization which works in new schools or implemented in existing schools and works to “improve student achievement; build student character; enhance teacher practices; and instill a positive school culture.” I have never heard of ELS before, but I have heard of Outward Bound. Outward Bound takes students outside on trips, hikes, etc and facilitates learning outside the classroom. ELS seem to be more focused on schools. On the website it states “learning expeditions” and interdisciplinary units are developed from state and district standards. The students work with experts to create original research. Furthermore, the website claims ELS has been proven effective by the Rand Corporation, the Academy for Educational Development, the American Institutes for Research, and the National Staff Development Council.
I like the “design principles” of ELS. (1) The primacy of self-discovery: “learning happens best with emotion” an argument similar to that which I developed in my last post! The principle continues with stating a teacher’s responsibility is to help students overcome their fears and find they can do more than they thought possible. (2) The having of wonderful ideas: time is of central interest to this principle. Students are given time to formulate ideas, experiment, and reflect on the lesson. (3) The responsibility for learning: encouraging students to take charge of their own learning and to realize learning occurs in groups and individually. (4) Empathy and caring: small learning groups, older students mentoring younger ones, the development of a comfortable and safe community. (5) build confidence through success and learn to overcome failure. Develop perseverance. (6) collaboration and competition: group work and students compete not against each other but against themselves. (7) Diversity and inclusion: diversity increases richness of ideas (a point I wrote about collaboration in a paper earlier this week!). Heterogeneous groups. (8) The natural world: “refreshes human spirit and teaches… recurring cycles and cause and effect.” (9) Solitude and reflection: the importance of being alone with one’s thoughts and reflect with others. (10) Service and compassion: people are strengthened through giving and serving others.
It is exciting to know some of my ideas are shared with the ELS principles!
ELS core practices and benchmarks. I found these most interesting in that they include ideas which are surprisingly absent from traditional school practices and benchmarks. In our current ‘accountability’ and testing phase, many schools focus increasingly on meeting test-scores and leave out the goals ELS has maintained. The organization contends the five core practices provide a planning guide for teachers. The practices are: Learning expeditions- designing compelling lessons, incorporating fieldwork, and producing high quality student work. Active pedagogy- reading, writing, inquiry-based math and social studies, art, and assessment. Culture and character- develop a community and engage families. Leadership and school improvement- share leadership and build partnerships. Use multiple data sources to improve achievement. Structures- facilitate knowing students well.
Left wondering whether ELS is effective, I navigated to their ‘See our results’ page. There are too many studies to cite here, but the introduction to the page states that the program is successful in: significant student improvement, improvement to instructional practices and school culture, improves attendance and parent involvement, and reduces ‘need’ for disciplinary actions.
After the positive evaluations, I have several issues that need to be resolved before more schools adopt ELS. Foremost, what implications do the students face when moving on to college? Progressive school reform is often seen as ‘hippie’ or non-competitive. What does it take to dispel these assumptions? Similarly, it takes fundamental reform to transform schools in this way. Are their easier ways which may be more effective?
Interesting that you include the Michelle Rhee cover with this post, as her work is taking schools in directions very different from ELS!
ReplyDeleteGreat that you explored more on ELS. The school that I know best that implemented ELS some time ago now did so to bring greater "legitimacy" to much of the sort of teaching that they were already doing, but going through the process of formally adopting ELS allowed them to qualify for grants, to better explain to parents what they are doing.
A fair question about college. I think that there are a good number of fairly elite private schools that do work similar to ELS. I think, too, that there really is a level of discipline and self-management inherent in the complex projects that kids do in strong ELS schools. This is a far cry from the "do what you want to do today kids" sort of schools that were more common when I was coming through teacher ed, where teachers sometimes convinced themselves that they'd damage kids' self-esteem if they actually required them to follow through on projects...!