Sierra Expeditionary Learning School offers a hands-on EL Education curriculum that adheres to district and state standards. The goals of EL Education are to foster academic achievement and character growth while instilling a love of learning and a sense of community. EL Education has been recognized nationally as an innovative, research-based, school improvement model and has been credited with producing high performing public charter schools, promoting high achievement through active learning, character growth, and teamwork.

The EL Education model emphasizes Five Core Practices within its schools; these core practices help frame how we implement the ten design principles:

  1. Curriculum: Academically rigorous learning expeditions, case studies, projects, fieldwork, and service learning inspire students to think and work as professionals do, contributing high quality work to authentic audiences beyond the classroom.
  1. Instruction: In EL Education schools, teachers use active pedagogy to help students become engaged and collaborative learners: to make connections, to find patterns, to see events from different perspectives, to experiment, to go beyond the information given, and to develop empathy and compassion for events, people, and subjects.
  1. Assessment: Staff members engage in ongoing data inquiry and analysis, examining everything from patterns in student work to results from state testing. Students continually assess and improve the quality of their work through the use of models, reflection, critique, rubrics, and work with experts. Standards-based learning targets drive achievement.
  1. School Culture and Character: EL Education builds shared beliefs, traditions, and rituals in order to create a school culture which is characterized by a climate of physical and emotional safety, a sense of adventure, an ethic of service and responsibility, and a commitment to high quality work.
  1. Leadership: EL Education schools build professional communities that focus on student achievement and continuous improvement. Leaders celebrate joy in learning and build a school-wide culture of trust and collaboration.