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CommentsSierra Expeditionary Learning School Ventures Out
Published: February 8, 2010by Beth Ingalls
A new charter school based on an “expeditionary learning” model could become a reality in Truckee by next fall if Tahoe Truckee Unified School District Trustees vote to approve a new charter in early March. Kim Bradley, board chair of the Sierra Expeditionary Learning School (SELS), said their initial presentation to the trustees on Feb. 3 “went very well.”
Bradley, a part time consultant and mother of two young children who are not yet school age, is part of a founding members group that has been working diligently for over a year researching academic programs and putting together the charter document which they presented to the board. While the 70-page tome is full of legalese and massive in scope, the heart of the Sierra Expeditionary Learning School’s mission is simple. “We want to collaborate with the district to provide an alternative educational choice,” said Bradley. “After lots of research, we chose the expeditionary learning approach because it is a nationally recognized model that we feel we could implement very successfully here.”
Expeditionary learning is based on five core practices: learning expeditions, active pedagogy, school culture and character, leadership and school improvement, and school structures. The hands-on approach is an innovative, research-based, school improvement model and has been credited with producing high performing public charter schools. SELS founding members have spent a lot of time at The Grass Valley Charter School, a successful expeditionary learning school whose initial charter was approved in 1993 and, in 2008, was renewed by the board there through 2013.
If approved, SELS would initially serve only 63 students in grades K- 5, chosen by lottery from an interested pool of applicants. “The demographic would be a true reflection of Truckee,” Bradley said. “We would be very small to be self-sustaining and not be a drain on the district.” Eventually, the school would grow over four years to serve 132 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
More information about SELS is at truckeecharterschool.org
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