Student Centered School

The following is a reflection by a teacher/parent on her recent visit to Summit School and EL school in Spokane Valley. Its framed in the "Notice and Wonder" format:

What I noticed about the school was that is was student-centered and led. The school environment was very positive including the teachers, students and principal. Respect and accountability were evident throughout each classroom and the assembly. Students take responsibility in the learning, their behavior and are treated with the upmost respect by the staff and their peers. There was a strong sense of community and culture. One student described it as a big family. The learning environment provides each child with an intrinsic motivation to learn, which decreases classroom management issues. It was an honor to see the school in action.

What I wondered about the school is how new students adjust coming into the school and how they adjust when they go into middle school. I wondered about the resources and curriculum and what resources our school will have. I also wondered and got some clear answers from the teachers and principal about how expeditions are integrated into the classroom.


It was amazing to see this school and I can't wait for our school to get there! It is everything I learned about in grad school of what education should look like. It gave me goose bumps!

Jeneille Branen

Summit Trip a Success

We ended up with 13 people. There were a wide variety of reasons people visited, from students studying Interior Design and Education to parents wanting to know more.

The Summit staff was incredibly inviting and friendly. I felt very welcome and free to observe and talk to the staff. I was very impressed to see that there was a program on Fridays where the 7th /8th graders were tutoring the Kindergartners. There was also a
kind of assembly where kids of all ages got into groups and were given tasks they had to keep working to figure out the best way to achieve their goals ( getting a beanbag to a partner across the room).

I enjoyed seeing the level of respect the children were given. I and four others had a very nice Q & A with the Principal [Krislock]. He was absolutely amazing. He is so knowledgeable and friendly. ( I wanted to steal him for our school !!) He also spoke separately with the design students. I am really glad I went. --Gabrielle

Tour to Summit EL School Fri Nov 14

Parents wanting to see EL in action are invited to come on a tour of Summit School in Spokane Valley. We have organized these trips in the past, and they provide interesting insights to EL in action.

Depart Moscow Rosauers at 7:00AM sharp Friday, Nov 14, to get to school in time for the opening (there is no opening bell). Back in Moscow by about 3:30.

Please sign up (below) to help our planning. We'll help coordinate car pools if you want, indicate on the form. We will limit the trip to 25 people so as not to overwhelm the school.

Website for the Summit School.

Map with driving directions from Moscow.

Tour to Summit EL School, Fri Sept 26

Parents wanting to see EL in action are invited to come on a tour of Summit School in Spokane Valley. We have organized two of these trips in the past, and they provide interesting insights to EL in action.

Depart Moscow Rosauers at 6:45AM sharp Friday Sept 26 to get to school in time for the opening (there is no opening bell). Back in Moscow by about 3:30.

Please sign up (below) to help our planning. We'll help coordinate car pools if you want, indicate on the form. We will limit the trip to 25 people so as not to overwhelm the school.

Website for the Summit School.

Map with driving directions from Moscow.

Notice and Wonder

On Fri, April 13, I visited Summit School in the Spokane Valley, now in its 4th year as an Expeditionary Learning school. I was impressed by the ability of children in the Kindergarten class to cooperate and to reflect on their performance.

The scene: The children were seated in a circle that included us adult visitors. They did a greeting around the circle, greeting the neighbor on each side of them by name.

Before starting the next activity, the teacher asked the children to talk about ideas of success. She noted that there might be other kinds of success besides doing the activity. Students offered: good listening or good directions, improvement in the activity, cooperation (working together). [I later noticed that these might be dimensions in a rubric for assessing the activity.]

The teacher introduced the task called "four-man pushup." The task involves four children lying on the floor in a square, where each child hooks their feet over the mid-back of one student and has another's feet over their back.

The first round was a demonstration by one team, with a chance to observe by the others.

The challenge was for the students to communicate to one another about what was required to get into this arrangement, who should lay down first, who put their feet up to fit the next child in, etc. Then when they were ready, they counted 1-2-3 and pushed up with their hands, raising all four bodies.

Following the activity, the teacher directed one child to get a marker and another a piece of paper and for the team to make notes on their performance. They each wrote an observation about the activity. All this happened quickly and smoothly, clearly this activity was practiced.

All the while the other children watched the performance and the teacher provide a little meta-analysis (noting the turn-taking during the reflections, or how one student offered to scribe for another who spoke her observation.

Divided into teams of four, the whole class did the activity, in an organized and cooperative manner.

What was also impressive was that the teams could quickly be formed, and that each team found its own leadership, did the activity, and moved on to reflected on what they did, making sure each make a written contribution.

Back in the big circle the teacher asked the children to reflect on their reflections (called Notice and Wonder) and look for "Big Ideas" that could help them in this activity and in other activities. The students came up with: "Worked together" and "On topic."