Excellence in Teaching

The Expeditionary Learning model is renowned for its investment in developing quality teachers. We do this through an extensive program of professional development that far outpaces what most public school teachers receive and by providing teachers with regular on-site coaching support.

A Different Approach
Expeditionary Learning requires a different approach to teaching. It is active and solution-oriented, interdisciplinary and collaborative, aligns with City and State standards, places character development on par with academic achievement, and works in tandem with experts from the field. Mastering this approach requires time and commitment on the part of teachers; it also requires that they receive constant, high-quality support. With this in mind, we provide in-depth coaching and extensive professional development opportunities to our teachers – and send them across the region and country to share best practices with other Expeditionary Learning educators.

Extensive Professional Development
Teachers who are new to Expeditionary Learning are provided a rigorous sequence of summer institutes prior to the start of school. Throughout the year, all teachers participate in an average of 15-25 days of professional development to deepen their teaching skills and develop new techniques. National professional development events include content- and skill-specific institutes, site seminars and the annual National Expeditionary Learning Conference, which feature best Expeditionary Learning practices happening across the country at Expeditionary Learning schools. Our professional development is unique in that it is inquiry-based, highly interactive, and models the very practices and structures that effective teachers use in their own classrooms. Our teachers also have access to online tools for developing and sharing curriculum and for connecting with  their Expeditionary Learning colleagues. 

Intensive On-Site Support
All schools have a school designer and an instructional guide to assist with the development of quality teaching. Our school designers each work with two to three schools and have a deep toolbox of Expeditionary Learning resources filled with curricular exemplars, templates, and samples of high-quality student work. Instructional guides, who are based full-time at our schools, provide on-site coaching support, working in tandem with the school designer. Together they work to strengthen teachers’ facility with Expeditionary Learning principles and structures, prepare them to teach students of differing abilities, and support them in developing instructional techniques that enliven and enrich student learning.