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Our educational approach:

  • challenges and supports students to do their best work
  • uses adventure, joy, and challenge as a catalyst for personal growth, community connection, and social change
  • grounds academic content in real-world issues and concerns
  • promotes a sense of belonging and teamwork, as well as individual initiative
  • provides opportunities for leadership and demonstrations of learning
  • places character and intellectual development on equal footing

We use continuous improvement — the process of problem and solution identification, and then short rapid testing of those solutions in order to assess the effectiveness of the ideas — to ensure we are always moving toward more equitable outcomes for all students.  

Our educational approach, guided by the continuous improvement method and mindset, works to disrupt inequitable educational systems and unleash students’ capacity as change agents.

There is more in us than we know.  If we could be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.
Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound

Our approach joins together

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Demanding & Engaging Learning

We routinely call upon our students to do things they didn’t think they could do, challenging and supporting them to do their best work in and out of the classroom and grounding their learning in real-world issues that matter to them and that tap into their interests and passions.

We use Project-Based Learning to provide our students with rigorous, challenging learning experiences that test their resolve, engage their passions, and help them discover just how capable they really are. Whether they are participating in a Learning Expedition in one of our schools or tackling a peak ascent as part of an Adventure & Team Building course our students are asked to apply and demonstrate what they are learning, gaining new skills and discovering new strengths.

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Character

We believe that the development of character is as important as the development of intellect, and that the two go hand in hand.

Our vision of student achievement includes not only the ability to do well on tests, but also success in the realms of character and citizenship. We provide our students with experiences both in and out of the classroom that help them learn to persevere through adversity and be resilient, bold of spirit, and compassionate. And we teach our students to take ownership for their own learning, to act with integrity and conviction, and to always stand up for what they believe to be right and just.

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Community

We believe that learning happens best in a community that actively encourages and practices respect, empathy, safety, inclusion, and diversity.

Our schools and programs are built upon the ethos of “we are Crew, not passengers.” We provide students with opportunities to work together, where success versus failure depends on their ability to collaborate effectively. We recognize that learning is a communal activity; one that is enhanced when each individual not only takes responsibility for his or her own success, but for the success of the entire community, collectively committing to leaving no one behind.

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