In the EL Education model, differentiation is a philosophical belief and an instructional approach through which teachers proactively plan instruction to capitalize on students’ varied assets and meet students’ varied needs based upon ongoing assessment. Teachers differentiate for students with disabilities, for advanced learners, for English language learners (see also Core Practice 20: Teaching English Language Learners), and for students whose differences are not formally evaluated but have been identified through informal learning and interest inventories. In whole group general education instruction, teachers use flexible groupings of students and design respectful tasks that allow for different approaches to the same goals. Teachers build a culture that honors diverse assets and needs and holds all students accountable to the same long-term learning targets, putting equity at the center of the school’s commitment and vision. At the same time, general education teachers make accommodations and modifications for students who have identified exceptionalities and collaborate with a team of school professionals to provide additional supports or extensions.

When districts or schools choose published curricula, they do so in order to give all students access to challenging content and engaging lessons that prepare them for college, careers, and global citizenship. Classrooms are dynamic systems that require responsiveness and flexibility. Therefore, it is sometimes appropriate to adapt or enhance a curriculum while maintaining fidelity to standards and the integrity of the curriculum’s aims and methods. Adaptation or enhancement can be a wise choice if it increases students’ understanding of content, elevates challenge, addresses needed literacy or numeracy skills, and builds student engagement.

The EL Education model recognizes that all speakers of English, at whatever level of proficiency, are constantly learning English. Some learners of English are acquiring it as a second, third, or fourth language, and rather than viewing bi- or multilingualism as a problem to be solved, leaders and teachers create a school and classroom culture to optimize it as an asset.

The EL Education model fosters and celebrates students’ academic growth and character development as inseparable. Members of the school community live up to the spirit of EL Education’s Design Principles on a daily basis and create a school climate characterized by physical and emotional safety, joy in learning, kindness, and positive leadership. All adults in the school communicate clear expectations for student character based on the school’s Habits of Character and model those values in their own practice and interactions. Policies and practices encourage students to become effective learners and ethical people who contribute to a better world. This means leaders, teachers, and students value diversity and work to create a community that is equitable, inclusive, and committed to social justice.

In the EL Education model, students’ character development is equally as important as producing high-quality work and mastering knowledge and skills. Throughout their educational journey, students are working to become effective learners, ethical people, and contributors to a better world. Schools adopt Habits of Scholarship, which are a subset of Habits of Character that support students to become effective learners. They articulate Habits of Character that enable students to become ethical people, which include traits like respect, honesty, and compassion. They articulate Habits of Character that enable students to contribute to a better world through service and stewardship.

In the EL Education model, the tradition of Crew is both a culture and a structure. The term “crew” comes from educator Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound. Hahn’s quote “We are crew, not passengers, strengthened by acts of consequential service to others” inspired the EL Education motto, “We are crew.” The culture of crew impels all members of a school community to work together as a team, to pitch in, to help others. Staff and students help their colleagues and peers get up the mountain together—individual success is not enough. The structure of Crew—daily meetings to support everyone’s learning and growth—makes time for students to build meaningful relationships with peers and their Crew leader, to reflect on and monitor academic progress, and to focus on character development. Crew is also an engine for equity and inclusion, a place where all students feel they belong and can succeed. Crew leaders strategically plan Crew meetings to address and assess these multiple goals.

Families are key partners in the education of their children. In the EL Education model, staff members make families welcome, value their contributions and backgrounds, and engage them actively in the life of the school. Leaders and teachers explicitly recognize that families care about their children’s education, bring strengths, and add value to the community. Leaders and teachers communicate with families regularly and respectfully and provide multiple ways to contribute to the academic and social life of the school. Leaders and teachers encourage families to be strong partners in their children’s learning. In addition, leaders and teachers build and sustain partnerships with community organizations and cultural institutions. Students are accustomed to interacting with visiting community members.

In the EL Education model, the physical space of the school reflects and supports the learning environment and the values of the school. When people enter the school, they are immediately aware of being in a place that celebrates learning. The walls are filled with high-quality student work showcased in common spaces and classrooms. Student work is displayed in a way that honors the work, giving parts of the school a museum quality that inspires student and community pride. Work is often supported by explanatory text that includes student voice and reflection. The mission of the school is evident to guests, students, and teachers throughout the building.

The spirit of courage and adventure that permeates the EL Education model is a clear expression of EL Education’s roots in Outward Bound. Leaders and teachers encourage students to work on building their courage across multiple aspects of their academic and social lives, to develop, for example, “fractions courage,” “poetry courage,” or “friendship courage.” Similarly, adventure can be any physical, artistic, or academic experience that involves risk, challenge, and discovery. Adventure bolsters student engagement and strengthens students’ courage.

Student-engaged assessment is a hallmark of the EL Education model. When assessment is done with students instead of to them, students take responsibility for and lead their own learning. They see themselves as the key actors in their own success. This creates a culture of engagement and achievement in which all students and adults believe that effort and reflection lead to academic growth and high-quality work. Teachers use multiple methods of formative and summative assessment to track students’ progress toward academic learning targets and Habits of Scholarship (e.g., perseverance, collaboration, responsibility). Teachers continually analyze quantitative and qualitative evidence of student performance to inform their instruction. Students learn to reflect deeply and concretely on their own performance data, assess their own learning, use feedback from peers and teachers, and set goals for achievement.

Learning targets are the foundation of a student-engaged assessment system. Teachers translate required standards into learning goals for courses, projects, units, and lessons in language that students can understand and own. Teachers refer continually to learning targets during the lesson, check for understanding of learning targets, construct formative and summative assessments that match learning targets, and track students’ progress toward targets. Students demonstrate their ownership of their learning by articulating the connections between learning targets and the work of the lesson and by showing evidence of their progress toward meeting them.

The EL Education model promotes student-engaged assessment strategies that help students reflect on and lead their own learning. Teachers use these strategies so that students understand what they know and can do at the outset of learning and as they progress toward learning targets. Students are able to articulate their understanding and set meaningful goals for applying their learning and improving their work.

In the EL Education model, teachers and school leaders collaborate to ensure that schoolwide, standards-aligned curriculum maps act as the foundation for all planning, instruction, and assessment. Curriculum maps describe a vertical sequence of academic and character targets that are to be addressed at each grade level and within each discipline. These targets become increasingly more sophisticated and rigorous as students progress through the grades. Curriculum maps also provide a year-at-a-glance view of what’s being taught and assessed across disciplines. They guard against unnecessary repetition of content across grades and ensure appropriate repetition of knowledge, skills, and Habits of Character as students move up through the grades.

In the EL Education model, teachers and leaders use a variety of assessment types to measure students’ mastery of standards and regularly involve students in understanding and analyzing their own assessment data. (See also Core Practice 29: Checking for Understanding in Daily Instruction.) Teachers use high-quality assessment data, both formative and summative, to reflect on the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction, and schoolwide structures such as schedules, academic groupings, and intervention programs. Finally, assessments provide a body of evidence for grading, reporting, promotion, and graduation that must be communicated to the community, district, state, and other stakeholders.

In the EL Education model, student achievement is communicated in traditional ways (e.g., report cards) and also in ways that allow students to take the lead in speaking about their own learning. Leaders and teachers create structures and procedures that support students to create, maintain, and present portfolios demonstrating growth and achievement during student-led conferences, passage presentations, and celebrations of learning. They also implement standards-based grading systems that communicate academic outcomes relative to specific required standards and, separately, outcomes on Habits of Scholarship. Teachers involve students in the dialogue about assessment and communicating achievement. Students can articulate what they have learned and speak to their own strengths, struggles, goals, processes of learning, and preparation for college and career success.

In the EL Education model, leaders unite staff, students, and the broader community around an inspirational vision of student success rooted in EL Education’s Dimensions of Student Achievement: mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality student work. This vision transforms schools into places where students and adults engage in purposeful, challenging, and joyful learning. School leaders align resources to support all domains of the school—Curriculum, Instruction, Culture and Character, Student-Engaged Assessment, and Leadership—to this vision.

In the EL Education model, school leaders carefully set priorities and then keep their focus squarely on those priorities until they are achieved. To do this, they engage their school community in a strategic improvement process that identifies a limited number of high-priority goals, strategies, and a clear timetable that will guide actions as they work toward the vision. Leaders then deliberately and creatively align available resources (people, time, money) to fulfill the vision.

In the EL Education model, leaders cultivate a professional culture among adults that parallels the empowering culture they foster for students. (See also Core Practice 23: Building the Culture and Structure of Crew.) School leaders build trust so that educators can take risks, show vulnerability, and explore new practices that lead to increased student achievement. School leaders support this growth-oriented and impact-focused professional collaboration by creating professional communities where adults bring their whole selves to work and where they continually improve their ability to work productively with each other. This means leaders invite and facilitate honest, direct feedback, and, when needed, candid and courageous conversations. They prioritize growth more than the status quo and implement an asset-based orientation toward all members of the school community. School leaders embody the school’s values and exemplify the positive and professional character they want all staff to demonstrate. Leaders foster an environment where all staff members feel safe, valued, and productive in a culture that respectfully challenges them to do more than they think possible.

In the EL Education model, leadership is a collaborative, dynamic effort toward a common vision for teaching and learning. Thus, in addition to creating the conditions for all staff to learn, school leaders create the conditions for all staff to lead. Leaders articulate and uphold clear decision-making processes, as well as roles and responsibilities for decisions that impact the learning community. Leaders strategically build the leadership capacity of others; they set up structures for staff and other members of the school community to take responsibility for school improvement efforts and empower these individuals to lead the work. High-functioning, data-informed, impact-oriented teams of educators drive improvement across the school.

School leaders using the EL Education model respect teachers and other staff members as creative agents in their classrooms and as professionals continually seeking to improve their craft. The EL Education model supports leaders to demonstrate a growth mindset and a commitment to continuous professional learning in themselves and all faculty members. School leaders build capacity in teachers in order to improve student achievement and to sustain teacher commitment, motivation, retention, and performance. Leaders establish and communicate high expectations for learning in the classroom. They conduct classroom learning walks to ask “what’s working?” and use evidence from their observations to inform professional learning, formal coaching cycles, and evaluation systems. They conduct regular walk-through observations to assess whether professional learning is being applied effectively and continually improve professional learning systems to impact student achievement.