EL Education Credentialing

To ensure quality programming across the network, EL Education began a “credentialing” program in 2013-14. To qualify for the program, schools must meet a benchmark score on EL Education’s Implementation Review. Once met, schools are then required to outline their overall program, highlight successes, and show competency in three primary categories: Student Mastery of Knowledge and Skills; Student Character; and High Quality Student Work.

During the 2013-14 academic year, several schools piloted the credentialing process. SELS was part of the second pilot phase in 2014-15. Over the course of the year, staff wrote explanations, outlined programs, and gathered supporting documents.

The credential was for five years. During the 2019-20 school year we updated our portfolio for re-credentialing. To be re-credentialed we must again show competency in achievement, and make substantial claims about how being an EL Education network school has led to student excellence in the three primary categories: Student Mastery of Knowledge and Skills; Student Character; and High Quality Student Work. Our Data Profile provides quick look at SELS information in these areas. Additionally, we were required to highlight how we continue to work towards improvement in student outcomes.

This page introduces and provides an overview of SELS’ history, community and culture of excellence, and credentialing portfolio. Links throughout will provide more information on each of the primary categories and/or will provide supporting documentation.

SELS History and Connection to EL Education

Sierra Expeditionary Learning School (SELS) opened in the fall of 2010 as an independent public charter school serving 64 K-5 students. Over the first three years, SELS expanded and now serves 212 students in grades K-8. SELS offers a small school environment (class sizes from 22-26) dedicated to academic excellence, diversity, and the building of character and community.

SELS is located in Truckee, CA, the largest of several towns in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District encompassing North Lake Tahoe. The area sits at approximately 6000 ft, is home to world class skiing, biking, and other outdoor activities, and has an emerging arts and food community.

The mission of Sierra Expeditionary Learning School is to inspire a diverse group of learners to achieve academic excellence while developing a strong sense of character and community. Our goal is to preserve each child’s natural curiosity and love of learning.

We believe:

• Interdisciplinary learning expeditions, developed from state standards, promote learning through authentic experiences that encourage critical thinking and social responsibility.
• Small multi-grade and/or looping classes in elementary school cultivates a safe environment for individual learning and self- discovery.
• Small self-contained classrooms in middle school establish a closer student-teacher connection and the ability to address student needs more effectively.
• High expectations for character and behavior create a school culture exemplified by physical and emotional safety, accountability, compassion, integrity, and respect.
• Shared school traditions and celebrations support reflection, personal growth and a sense of belonging within the school community.
• Multiple means of assessment, including portfolios and student-led conferences, along with academic and character reports, hold students, teachers, and staff accountable for the highest quality of work.
• Multicultural studies and a foreign language component instill tolerance and broad worldviews while fostering an appreciation for local and global diversity.
• A diverse school population reflective of our community promotes intercultural understanding and respect for individual differences and similarities.
• Physical fitness, outdoor activities, and visual and performing arts are an integral part of students’ daily lives.

Since diversity is a key component of the school (and also important to our sponsoring district), SELS conducts a two-tiered lottery system: one for the “general” population and one for those families who qualify for the National School Lunch Program (indicating low-income status). For every lottery, a percentage of openings are reserved for each group. This percentage is tied to the district’s overall breakdown of general and NSLP populations. This “double” lottery helps maintain the school’s vision and ensures all students have access and can be served by the program. Our general demographic makeup includes approximately 30% NSLP eligible (low-income), approximately 25% of Latinx descent, with approximately 10% English Learner and 15% Special Education identified. Comparatively, our district (TTUSD) has approximately 40% NSLP eligible, approximately 35% of Latinx descent, with approximately 15% English Learner and 12% Special Education identified.

Originating from the vision of fourteen founding families, SELS was granted its charter in March 2010 by Tahoe Truckee Unified School District. These founders believed in educating the whole child, attending to not only academics but also character, physical and emotional well-being, and service to the community. After assessing many different educational models, they decided EL Education was the best fit for their vision and for the Truckee community.

Upon the outset, SELS staff recognized the benefits of the partnership with EL Education. As a new school, having the framework and direction provided by EL Education helped focus the development of programming and the hiring of staff (who, in order to be hired, needed to share the excitement for EL Education philosophies and vision). EL Education’s foundational underpinnings (philosophically based on ten Design Principles and structurally based on five Core Practices: EL DPs and CPs) aligned well with the Founders’ ideologies. Concretely, thematic-based expeditions, character education, fieldwork, and the fostering of school-wide community and culture provided the building blocks upon which the school was established. The professional expertise and resources provided by EL Education helped make the vision and ideas grounded and accessible.

Founders also recognized the model’s flexibility in teaching and learning, allowing for a wide range of student abilities to be addressed. This flexibility was/is vital to teachers’ differentiation of curriculum to assure students are being met at their level. As outlined in the Student Achievement section, this is an important aspect to increasing the performance of traditionally under-achievers, while also allowing teachers to better address the needs of traditionally high achievers.

When we were a new program, the connection to an established and well-respected educational model and network of schools also provided the prestige to convince a suspicious public that SELS was legitimate. The model appealed to the community of Truckee, thereby ensuring high initial enrollment numbers.

Over the years, as SELS expanded both in size and programming, the partnership has continued to demonstrate its value: on-site School Designer days providing insights and professional development; conferences and institutes delivering ideas and networking; a framework from which to develop excellent academic and character programming; and the connections to other programs and resources upon which to draw. Both staff and the larger school community know that the effectiveness of SELS has been significantly influenced by the relationship with EL Education. Link to a short SELS overview video.

Additionally, each year SELS works with the School Designer to develop a school Work Plan. This Plan focuses on highest priority needs (often as identified in the previous year’s Implementation Review – see below for more explanation), and more specifically one academic goal and one structural goal. These goals help direct the year’s professional development to facilitate Work Plan success and overall school effectiveness.

2011-12: Academic – Writing ; Structural – Peer Observations
EL Work Plan ’11-12
2012-13: Academic – Reading ; Structural – Habits of Work
EL Work Plan ’12-13
2013-14: Academic – Writing ; Structural – Teacher Support
EL Work Plan ’13-14
2014-15: Academic – Math ; Structural – Instructional Coaching
EL Work Plan ’14-15
2015-16: Academic – Teaching Protocols & Curriculum Mapping ; Structural – Habits of Work Reflection/Tracking
EL Work Plan ’15-16
New format identifying goals in Mastery of Knowledge and Skills, Student Character, High Quality Work, and Leadership:
2016-17: EL Work Plan ’16-17
2017-18: EL Work Plan ’17-18
2018-19: EL Work Plan ’18-19
2019-20: EL Work Plan ’19-20
2020-21 & 2021-22: Covid issues interrupted any Work Plan efforts
2022-23: EL Work Plan ’22-23
2023-24: EL Work Plan ’23-24

Community and Culture of Excellence

Since inception, SELS staff, founders, and Board of Directors have vigorously pursued establishing a culture of excellence. Primarily, this meant establishing strong school character and culture-building programs. Secondarily, knowing this would also require significant community-wide efforts, extensive time and energy have also been spent developing family-school connections, a strong relationship with TTUSD (our sponsoring district), and the larger Truckee community.

  

Family-School Connections

Communication is vital to ensuring families have the information needed to participate in their children’s education: SELS Administration sends out weekly notes/events/calendar; teachers send newsletters and stay in close contact with parents, our website contains a wealth of information, and translation is used regularly. Additionally, parents are always welcomed in the classroom, and the school’s expectation is that parents will be involved in the children’s learning. Our extensive fieldwork is also tied to securing parent drivers and chaperones.

• Family- school events help foster these connections; SELS holds many, varied opportunities for families to be an integral part of the school program: Celebrations of Learning, Passages, student-led Goal-Setting Conferences, Community Meetings, Assemblies, School Dances, Gratitude Evening, Bear Walk-a-Thon, Great Skate, and Summit Day. While these events vary between staff and parent organization, feedback is always very positive.

TTUSD Relationship

SELS’ founders worked diligently to foster a close relationship between our charter and the larger district organization. Their success, and current staff’s continuing success at maintaining this relationship, has been invaluable to the overall success of our program. Apparent benefits include: facilities, busing, food service, special education services, curriculum/professional development sharing, shared Student Information System, sports/activity reciprocity, and inclusion in various bond measures. Additionally, professional advice and support have been invaluable.

At inception and for the next year or so, Founders and Board Members actively searched for the “ideal” school location. However, TTUSD’s willingness to work with us to improve our existing facilities (at an old TTUSD middle school) led to a commitment by us to remain at the same location. This partnership in general, and regarding facilities in particular, has been foundational in allowing us to focus on more student-centered topics, like curriculum and instruction.

Truckee Community Connections

Efforts to include the wider community in our program have meant designing curriculum service projects (i.e., interpretive signs, anthologies of seniors), inviting non-school families and other school PTOs to events, and bringing in experts as part of student learning.

  

Collectively, these efforts have led to the development of a well-respected, high-performing EL Education School, as evidenced through EL Education’s Implementation Review, parent survey data, community testimonials, and a 3rd party program review.

Summary of Implementation Review

The EL Education Implementation Review is an assessment of schools’ implementation of the Core Practices. This extensive rubric and evaluation system provides an indication of schools’ efforts and is used as a baseline for Credentialing status. To complete the rubric, SELS staff compiles evidence in a tracker, using this plus site visits and conversations with an EL School Designer to demonstrate levels of implementation for each category.

• Upon inception, SELS decided to implement as many EL Education processes and protocols as soon as possible, and we pride ourselves on being fully EL Education.
• Implementation Review scores have been consistently high: 134 in ’11-12; 120 in ’12-13; 111 in ’13-14; 116 in ’14-15; 110 in ’15-16; 112 in ’16-17; 112 in ’17-18; 120 in ’18-19; 126 in ’19-20  (no IR data for ’20-21 or ’21-22 due to Covid disruptions). Reduction in scores some years has several factors: the instrument changed; the benchmarks within the instrument became tougher; SELS expanded each year, both in students and campus size. That said, all scores are well above the required benchmark score of 98 for credentialing, and have after remaining pretty steady for several years have significantly increased the past two years.

Parent Survey Data

SELS surveys the school community approximately every other year for feedback, insights, and ideas. An April ’24 questionnaire similarly reflects previous satisfaction surveys:

• Over 95% of respondents are satisfied/very satisfied to have enrolled their children at SELS.
• Over 90% of respondents feel SELS implements its mission and programming well/very well.
• Over 91% of respondents believe SELS academic program is effective/very effective at meeting their children’s needs.
• Over 84% of respondents believe SELS character program is effective/very effective at meeting their children’s needs.

Respondents were also very positive about specific programming.

A March ’20 questionnaire confirmed SELS excellence:

• Over 92% of respondents are satisfied/very satisfied to have enrolled their children at SELS.
• Over 92% of respondents feel SELS implements its mission and programming well/very well.
• Over 92% of respondents believe SELS academic program is effective/very effective at meeting their children’s needs.
• Over 93% of respondents believe SELS character program is effective/very effective at meeting their children’s needs.

Respondents were also very positive about specific programming:

This data was similar to, and even a little better than, data from an earlier survey in March ’15, which seems to indicate our continued path towards excellence. In the ’15 survey, when asked why families choose SELS, “mission/philosophy”, “curriculum”, “character education”, and “relationship with Expeditionary Learning” (EL Education’s prior name) all had an influence of “quite a bit” or “very much” in 85% or greater of respondents.

Additionally, once enrolled, satisfaction in our programmatic implementation was also high:

Testimonials

• SELS embodies everything that I feel is important in my child’s education and I am so grateful that she has the opportunity to learn in such an enriching environment. Teaching our children how to think and how to treat others is critical to their future success. I am thankful every single day for all the wonderful staff at SELS.
• SELS does a great job implementing its mission and programming. It is a school that’s focused on its goals and the goals of its students.
• My children are held accountable for their learning in age appropriate ways. They are engaged, interested and curious about what they are learning because their expeditions are relevant and applicable to their lives and the lives of those around them.
• My children have excelled and grown as students and members of a community since starting at SELS.
• SELS has a hands-on learning approach to education. We wanted something different from the traditional education model. At SELS, our children are recognized as individuals with unique learning needs.
• I enjoy the project-based, real-world, relevant learning. SELS teaches students about character, has differentiated instruction, and a PHENOMENAL STAFF.
• I am grateful that my child is encouraged to interpret concepts and think about how they apply to his life, not just memorize and repeat material. I love that SELS asks kids to think about who they are and how they contribute to the community, locally and globally.
• I feel my children are receiving an excellent education at SELS. The teachers are well equipped to teach the expeditionary learning model and we feel fully supported by staff with our children’s character development and expectations.
• As a teacher myself, I can see the character development, arts and other extracurricular elements threading through all parts of our son’s school day. It’s like life, connected!
• SIERRA Norms are all part of our family dialogue. My child is confident and strong in character, and applies what she learns in all areas of her life.
• My son is learning to integrate the SIERRA Norms at a very young age. He takes responsibility for his learning and values the idea of challenging himself. He has a wide range of friends who share his caring and empathetic character. I have seen great positive growth each year.
• Our girls grow daily at SELS. They feel confident in their voice and embrace responsibility. Watching them navigate their social and academic environment as little citizens is wonderful.
• My kids are learning hands-on curriculum that is relevant. SELS demonstrates high expectations for character and social norms. Teaching students that they are an integral part of the community — in our school, local community and the larger world community. I appreciate the belief that children are capable of being accountable for their learning as well as their actions.
• I love the character development and meaningful rituals at SELS.

Third Party Program Review

During our first two years of operation, we were recipients of the federal Public Charter Schools Grant Program. This funding was instrumental in providing the support needed to facilitate full programmatic implementation. As a condition of these funds, in the spring of 2013, SELS was required to have a 3rd Party organization (Insight Education Group, in this case) review our overall program for 1) compliance with rules of the PCSGP, and 2) effectiveness of teaching and learning. In the five categories assessed, on a 4-point rubric where 4 is “meets or exceeds standard” and 3 is “mostly meets standard”, our scores were as follows:

• Student Academic Achievement: 3
• Ethical Leadership: 4
• Continuing Focus on Increasing Quality: 3
• Responsible Governance: 4
• Fiscal Accountability: 4

Anecdotally, the Insight Group reviewers spoke highly of our program and indicated we were, in their experience, one of the higher scoring schools, as indicated in the full report:
Insight Third Party Review 4_4_13

Summary of EL Education’s Credentialing School Criteria

To become an EL Education Credentialed School, programs must show how the implementation of EL Education’s Core Practices facilitates effective programming across the three Dimensions of Student Achievement. Schools make claims with supporting evidence to demonstrate this. Credentialing is valid for five years; since SELS was first credentialed in 2015, we are now demonstrating how our on-going implementation of the Core Practices has continued to support and foster growth in our students across all the Dimensions of Student Achievement.

The below summaries provide a brief overview of each dimension, and are more thoroughly addressed through links to specific pages on the site. EL Credentialing requires us to make claims about each dimension; for extensive evidence of meeting the claims, follow the links.

Student Mastery of Knowledge & Skills

Claim: By focusing on Core Practices 13 & 14 (Teaching Reading and Writing Across Disciplines), SELS students consistently outperform their district and state peers in statewide ELA testing.

Mastery of knowledge and skills is generally assessed through state testing since it is the only comparable baseline data for student achievement across the country. Since 2015 California has used the testing instrument developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), which is then operated and managed by the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP).

Since inception, SELS has consistently outperformed district and state averages in all areas of testing. Use this link for more details on the Student Mastery of Knowledge & Skills criteria.

Student Character

Claim: By focusing on Core Practice 22 (Fostering Habits of Character), SELS students contribute to a better community through service and civil action.

EL Education schools are expected to build comprehensive character programs, addressing both students’ social-relational skills and job-life skills. A foundational principle of EL Education is the development of the whole child – students who are kind, civic-minded individuals engaged in their communities, and (ideally) working to create a better world.

From the onset, SELS staff implemented school-wide social-relational character traits (which we call the SIERRA norms), visible and used in every classroom. These traits are taught, assessed, and foundational to all interactions among students and staff. At the beginning of year three (in 2012), staff implemented school-wide job-life character traits (which we call our Habits of Work, or HOWs). HOWs are also tracked for all students (excepting Kinder and 1st grade as they learn them) and (like the SIERRA norms) are considered foundational to our program. SIERRA norms and HOWs are discussed daily in morning meetings, have regular learning targets, and are highlighted on end-of-term progress reports.

SELS students’ behavior consistently receives positive feedback from community members, and parent surveys indicate the school’s character education program is one of the most valued aspects of the school. Our attendance has always been excellent (98-99%), our suspension rates are consistently around 2% (equivalent to district and state numbers), and our in-school Office Referral program has seen a reduction of cases over the past five years, from approximately 20% of students receiving referrals down to about 10%.

See here for more details on the Student Character dimension.

High-Quality Student Work

Claim: By focusing on Core Practice 12 (Planning for and Supporting High-Quality Student Work), SELS students have demonstrated excellence in producing high-quality work.

EL Education believes high-quality student work a vital component to student success. Working with assignments, activities, and projects that are authentic and complex, students are expected to develop a high level of craftsmanship.

• All expeditions designed with student products in mind (backward planning), and service is generally highlighted.
• Clear tasks, modeling, exemplars, and rubrics are consistently used in generating student work.
• Peer review and revision are a regular part of the work process.
• Expeditions focus on classroom-based “culminating” products and events of high quality; usually, individual student work are the pieces that make up the product.

See here for more details on the High-Quality Work criteria.

A Culture of “Not Yet”

Integral to SELS success has been our commitment to reflection and improvement. The final criteria for renewing our Credential is to demonstrate this organizational growth over time. Knowing that the creation of the highest quality program is an on-going activity, we consistently assess and evaluate all aspects of the school. And while we, of course, want immediate “perfection”, we remain committed to the “grappling” process: assess, develop, implement, assess/reflect, adjust/tweak, implement… and so on. Instead of us “not” having everything as we would immediately like, we think of it as “not yet“. This ethic is something we also strive to instill in our students as they work to master both academics and character.

Staff meet every week and discuss all aspects of the program, consistently adjusting to meet needs. We work closely with EL Education to identify and fix programmatic “weak points”. Parent/community/student feedback is solicited every year through surveys, conversations, and meetings, and is used to provide insight/ideas whenever important topics/issues arise. Staff and Board are open to feedback and ideas, and keep processes transparent.

Sustained Continuous Improvement

Claim: By focusing on Core Practice 36 (Leading Professional Learning), SELS staff know they are supported in their professional learning and growth, and thus staff retention is very high allowing for a deeper implementation of the EL Education model.

Evidence: First and foremost, staff want to feel appreciated and supported. On the most basic level, staff know their voices are always welcome (at weekly staff meetings and an administrative “open door” policy); they are included in all major decisions; are regularly asked about practice, curriculum, and schoolwide structures; and are provided with nearly all teaching needs. On more complex levels, classroom teachers work with an on-site Instructional Guide to set annual goals, participate in Learning Walks and Walk-throughs (IG led and peer-to-peer), reflect on teaching practices, have comprehensive annual evaluations, and participate in extensive professional development, both on- and off-site. See links to:
On-site professional development
Off-site professional development
Learning Walks / Walk-throughs
Collaboration Coaching Logs
Teacher goal-setting
Annual Teacher Evaluation
(and associated rubric)

While we have no statistical evidence this focus on continuous improvement is causal, staff evaluation of Leadership is consistently very high, averaging above 4.5 on a 5 pt scale across all categories. SELS classroom and support teacher retention rates are excellent. In ten years of operation, only four classroom teachers have left their positions (and all for specific personal reasons, not because they were particularly interested in resigning); and of approximately 20 support staff (all part-time employees ranging from custodial to Reading Specialists), each year sees turnover at only 1-4 positions (most of whom leave for full-time work which we are too small to offer).

We fully believe this stability of staff is instrumental in deepening SELS’ implementation of EL Education’s Core Practices, as evidenced by our increasingly high Implementation Review scores (outlined above and at 126/130 in ’19-20). Assuming the Core Practices outline many of the best teaching and organizational practices in education, SELS thorough implementation of these practices is directly responsible for SELS students’ overall successes in Master of Knowledge and Skills, Character, and High-Quality Work.

Looking Forward: As an organization committed to academic and character excellence, we work to address our most pressing issues. Since our initial Credential in 2015, our most pressing issues have consistently been around the achievement gaps for our low-income, Latinx, and Special Education students. As outlined in our Work Plans above, many of our improvement goals address these gaps. Over time we have worked on/implemented new teaching/learning strategies, added additional support/intervention staff, and provided professional development. SELS staff remains fully committed to continuing our efforts to reduce these achievement gaps, and will continue to highlight this issue in our future Work Plans and professional development.