Expeditionary Learning Schools: Student Achievement Impacts

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Expeditionary Learning Schools has worked in 144 schools in 29 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in the 2007-2008 school year. Located primarily in urban areas where school improvement is most needed, ELS schools promote high academic achievement through real world projects and products within an active, engaging, and rigorous college preparatory curriculum. Building on a history of successful outcomes studies, a recent report found that

“There is strong evidence that sustained implementation of the Expeditionary Learning Schools design has a powerful impact on student achievement”.

In reading: “There is strong evidence that implementation of the ELS design has a powerful impact on student achievement in reading/ELA. The impact is even greater for subgroups that have a history of low performance: Black and Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, and students receiving special education services.” (ELS, 2009, p. 6)

Implementing ELS schools on average outperformed their districts in reading proficiency by 9.3 percentage points. Key student subgroups – Black students, Hispanic students, FRL students, and Special Education students – outperformed their district subgroup peers in reading by 15.1 percentage points, 13.8 percentage points, 10.3 percentage points, and 11.2 percentage points respectively.

In math: Implementing ELS schools on average outperformed their districts in math proficiency in SY2007-2008 by 3.6 percentage points. Key student subgroups in implementing ELS schools – Black students, Hispanic students, and Special Education students – outperformed their district subgroup peers in math by an average of 7.3 percentage points, 9.3 percentage points, and 8.0 percentage points respectively.