The Nature of Children – Evergreen Community Charter Schools Blog

Lilly Plays Marimba in the EMBE Band

Expeditionary Learning is a model for teaching and learning that challenges students to think critically and take active roles in their classrooms and communities. Learning is active and students are scientists, urban planners, historians and activists. They investigate real community problems and collaborate with peers to develop creative, actionable solutions.

At Evergreen Community Charter School, during a third-grade expedition on Movers and Shakers, teacher Eben Heasley asked his class, “How do people use the mind, body and spirit to make the world a better place?”

This question resulted in activism that started with one third-grader whose passion spread to her seventh-grade sister who passed it on to her seventh grade class and resulted in saving four Chinese baby girls from an unimaginably cruel fate.

Click here to read Susan Reinhardt’s story in the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Expeditionary Learning teaches students to apply skills and knowledge to real-world issues and make positive changes in their communities. Libby and Lilliana made a real difference in their global community. One that will impact them,  their Chinese sisters and their school for years to come.

Evergreen EMBE Marimba Band

There is much confusion surrounding charter schools. Are they public or private? Do they charge tuition? Are they selective? I understand why this confusion exists – because charter school law varies from state to state. Each state has its own charter school law and each school has its own charter.

You could be listening to an NPR story on a charter school in Ohio and hear about a very different animal than what exists in North Carolina. One difference is with regard to Charter School Authorizers. These authorizers are charged with approving charter schools, overseeing their observance to the law, and upholding performance contracts.

States differ as to who can authorize charters – it could be a university, a non-profit organization, an independent state agency or the state or local board of education.

To make matters more confusing, states vary as far as who they allow to run their charter schools. These organizations are called Charter School Operators. There are non-profit operators and for-profit operators. In some states, for example, Ohio, a for-profit company can run a charter school.

It’s all very confusing, even to a long-time charter school person like myself. I’ve been involved in the charter school movement in North Carolina since 1996 when the law was approved. I’m happy to say that in North Carolina the process is fairly simple. All charter schools are authorized by the State Board of Education. We are publicly funded from local, state and federal tax dollars based on enrollment. Each school is its own school district with its own school board, mission statement and curriculum focus. Evergreen’s is environmental education and service learning.

So the next time you are listening to a media story on charter schools – remember that no two states are alike and no two schools are alike. What is similar is that all charter schools are public schools designed to give families a choice in how their kids are educated.

– Eleanor Ashton – Director of Development and Communication at Evergreen Community Charter School. Eleanor is a founding parent and Board member of Evergreen

A group of 20 Evergreen faculty members devoted part of their busy winter break in a book study. They read Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. in preparation for a discussion over lunch on the January 3rd work day.

In Mindset, Dweck shares her research on two types of mindsets: fixed and growth. A fixed mindset individual believes they are who they are and nothing can change that identity. A person with a growth mindset believes they can change who they are by taking on new and challenging opportunities to learn. The author’s research shows that a growth mindset leads to more success in school, sports, business, etc. and this mindset can be developed.

The lively discussion focused on the implications of the research and resulting ideas for our students at Evergreen. Upon reflection, the faculty concluded that, with the use of the Expeditionary Learning framework and EL Design Principles, some of the strategies for instilling a growth mindset are already in place. Our students are taught to reflect on how they’ve grown and the processes that led to that growth. The faculty holds high expectations and works with students as individuals to meet the stated expectations. Nurturing relationships between faculty and students facilitate honest assessments of progress.

As with our students, our teachers also see areas to grow and improve. They are learning to praise their students by focusing on the effort put forth to successfully complete a problem or project rather than using a fixed mindset type of praise, “You are so smart. Nice job!” Helping students to become more internally motivated so they equate growth with the hard work is another area we are working on. Our students will better develop a growth mindset if we define what is meant by effort and give them the skills they need to follow through with quality assignments and projects.

Cameron Brantley, Associate Director for grades K-4

“Miss Terry, Miss Terry, Look! It’s Nature!!”

Fifth graders Eva and Gabriella search for river critters in a survey of an area stream.

The five-year-old girl eagerly held out a box containing things she had collected over the weekend: green moss, stones polished by the river, a dragonfly wing, a tiny dried flower. Her face was glowing with pride as she told me how she had gone to the creek with her older brother and spent an entire afternoon discovering salamanders hidden under rocks, noticing how cool it was beneath the trees, imagining a fairy garden where the moss and lichens grew.

Her enthusiasm could hardly be contained when she shared her discoveries with her kindergarten classmates. As her teacher, I knew that this was one child who was making connections that would facilitate brain development and jump-start her on a path of scholarly inquiry, discovery, imagination and playfulness. All of this, and she was only doing what is natural for all children. This is the nature of children.

As a long time educator in the field of science and environmental education, I have seen the benefits of providing students with opportunities for authentic experiences with animals and in the natural world. I believe that engaging children outdoors provides opportunities for lessons in problem solving, discovery, comparison and cause and effect that can be incorporated into many literature, art, math, science, social studies and language arts. Students can make real-life connections when they are engaged in real life! As they mature, they will continue to use these skills to work toward solving pressing social and environmental issues.

A place-based curriculum that scaffolds environmental education throughout the disciplines is right in line with the 21st Century learning and the new standards for education being implemented by states across the nation. Understanding complex relationships in the natural world around them will help students begin to grasp and understand the complexities of the global world. They learn skills in conflict resolution, improve their self-esteem and play more creatively and egalitarian when they participate in environmental education programs. (Source: The Children’s Nature Institute,” Evidence” from Why Nature is Important). Ultimately, children who engage with the Natural World learn to appreciate their world. They become the adults who work to protect and preserve our irreplaceable natural resources and are the decision makers who truly care about the environment.

Terry Deal, Environmental Education Coordinator at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, North Carolina

Evergreen Community School has a strong connection to Nature

Evergreen Community Charter School is a kindergarten through eighth grade public charter school. We believe that providing a strong connection with the Natural World is essential to the development of the hearts, minds and bodies of our students.

Because of our commitment to Environmental Education across the curriculum, we are able to provide opportunities for all of our students to demonstrate an understanding of ecology and environmental stewardship as well as to develop a sense of respect, responsibility and wonder for the Natural World.

In 2001, Evergreen adopted the Expeditionary Learning School (ELS) design model because it so closely matches our community’s core beliefs.  This school reform model, developed by Outward Bound, challenges teachers and students to make learning relevant and to gain knowledge and understanding based on their hands-on experiences through fieldwork and service learning. Our students participate in numerous outdoor activities, ranging from backpacking and camping to bird counts, river trips and stream clean-ups.  Rock climbing begins in the first grade and culminates with the pinnacle Outward Bound experience in the eighth grade.

Environmental education is gaining popularity across the country. Numerous studies show that students at schools using some kind of environment-based curriculum do better academically than their peers at traditional schools, especially in the STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math. Legislation introduced in July, No child left Inside, supports environmental literacy programs with outdoor learning activities and professional development for teachers.  In June, Maryland became the first state in the country to require school systems to ensure that students are environmentally literate when they graduate from high school.

Evergreen’s focus on environmental education is paying off in high test scores. For the second consecutive year, the school received the designation of Honor School of Excellence. In order to achieve this distinction a school must have 90% of students pass the state mandated End-of-Grade (EOG) tests. Evergreen had a 95% pass- rate which placed it in the top 3% of all schools in the state. Ninety-four percent of Evergreen students in grades five through eight passed the science EOG tests and 100% of Algebra students passed their EOC. Also, 87% of the EOGs taken by students in the Exceptional Children (EC) program passed.  The state average pass rate is less than 35%.

Eleanor Ashton is Evergreen’s Director of Development and Communication and also a founding parent.  Her daughters Jasmine and Laurel were  among the first graduates of Evergreen.