Nine EL Schools Receive Credentialing Distinction
- Date
- Author
Alexis Margolin
Congratulations to the nine Expeditionary Learning (EL) schools that were named the first EL Credentialed Schools. Announced at EL's 2014 National Conference, the inaugural group of EL Credentialed Schools are:
- ANSER Charter School (EL Mentor School) - Boise, ID
- Genesee Community Charter School (EL Mentor School) - Rochester, NY
- Grass Valley Charter School (EL Mentor School) - Grass Valley, CA
- Harborside Academy - Kenosha, WI
- Kettle Falls Elementary School (EL Mentor School) - Kettle Falls, WA
- Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS) - Queens, NY
- Polaris Charter Academy (EL Mentor School) - Chicago, IL
- Springfield Renaissance School (EL Mentor School) - Springfield, MA
- Two Rivers Charter School - Washington, D.C
Each of these schools have demonstrated that they are implementing the EL model with fidelity and achieving corresponding gains across all three dimensions of EL’s expanded definition of student achievement - evidence of strong and improving student work and character in addition to high assessment performance.
In order to become credentialed, each school assembled a portfolio of evidence to assess progress against clear and consistent criteria:
- Student Mastery of Knowledge and Skills as measured by student performance on state assessments.
- High Quality Student Work as measured by evidence drawn from anannual Quality Work Protocol focused on attributes of complexity, craftsmanship and authenticity.
- Student Character as measured by evidence of student data showing growth over time in essential character habits such as collaboration, effort and responsibility.
- Implementation of Expeditionary Learning as measured by the annual Implementation Review.
Teachers and leaders participated in close analysis of their students’ work to identify trends and patterns and set goals for improvement. By engaging in regular conversations that are tied to a consistent and stable set of attributes and grounded in evidence of student work and data, schools in the credentialing process will build an archive of evidence over time that enables them to reflect on the connections between changes in student work and changes in teacher practice.