• Visitors to a middle school of 700 diverse students are amazed by the respectful and compassionate relationships among the students. Discipline actions have decreased significantly and attendance rates increased dramatically since the school began a partnership with Expeditionary Learning.
• At a kindergarten through grade eight school, documentation of high quality work is everywhere. Multiple drafts and final expedition products are displayed in hallways and classrooms. Documentation panels capture student and teacher thinking along with photos and reflections from fieldwork. Students eagerly share their portfolios with visitors and articulate their progress, their academic and character goals, and who they are as mathematicians, readers, writers, artists, and scientists.
• A culture of service fosters individual character growth and helps establish the values of a school. In the first year with Expeditionary Learning, students from three advisory classes in a comprehensive high school refurbished the community center. In the second year, the senior class built a house to be sold to a low-income family. Every senior was involved in a committee to plan a particular aspect, and in the actual construction of the house. This year, the seniors are working with downtown merchants to renovate Main Street.
• To study equity and diversity, second to seventh grade students participated in a project called Benchmark Diversity: Uniting Ideas and Community Action. Along with artists, teachers and a master mason, students created tiles that reflected their learning about diversity and how to visually represent it. The culmination of the project was the installation of the tile-covered bench outside city hall during a celebration of diversity.
• At an urban high school, strong and healthy minds are not the only focus; strong and healthy bodies are too. The principal sees a link between the epidemics of childhood obesity and academic failure and seeks to change both at her school. Students walk at least a mile every day to and from tennis instruction and the food at the school is health with plenty of fruits and vegetables.
• Families and community are fully engaged in the life of a K-6 school in upstate New York. Parents are encouraged to visit the school and over 95% attend student/ parent conferences. Family members turn out in droves at the semi-annual exhibitions where students present the final products from their learning expeditions. Other community members also get to see the school from the student perspective through the student tour guide program.
• The Adventure Education program at this K-8 school in Colorado continues to support learning expeditions and the school/crew culture in a variety of ways throughout the school year. Every fall and spring the students take part in camping trips that vary in length from two to five days, depending upon the grade level. They also participate in several full days of adventure activities throughout the school year -- rock climbing, caving, cross-country skiing, etc.
