Systemic Approach

Helps ensure that the most effective means to obtain consistent, highly impactful, goal-driven results are identified and implemented across the system.
​“Systematic approaches to more or less everything work better than ad hoc…” (Emil O. W. Kirkegaard, 2017) 

Community Engagement

“Seeks to better engage the community to achieve long-term and sustainable outcomes, processes, relationships, discourse, decision-making, or implementation.” (Center for Economic and Community Development, 1997) Educators, working collaboratively with business and the community, can address issues impacting the local economy, impacting the health of the community. Partnerships and coalitions that develop can help mobilize resources and impact, not only the educational system, but the community as a whole.

Experiential Learning

Provides opportunities to explore real-world situations engaging the learner in reflective problem-solving where failure is seen as an avenue to to further inquiry, assisting the learner in constructing their own knowledge and understanding. By the nature of exploring authentic phenomenon, experiential learning is foundationally interdisciplinary where “learners play a critical role in assessing their own learning” (Wurdinger, 2005)

Place-based Education

Is an educational approach that works within the community to immerse the learner in local opportunities and experiences, yielding real-world experiential learning opportunities connected to their local heritage and culture. Place-based educational opportunities often include service projects connected to the learner’s community, focusing on environmental stewardship and community development. "At the heart of place-based education is the belief that children of any age are capable of making significant contributions to the lives of others, and that as they do so, their desire to learn and belief in their own capacity to be change agents increase." (Gregory A. Smith, 2017)

Capacity Building

Creates a process by which individuals involved obtain knowledge and develop the skills, tools and resources necessary to increase the level of competency in the activities in which they are engaged. “Capacity building is not a one-time effort to improve short-term effectiveness, but a continuous improvement strategy toward the creation of a sustainable and effective organization.” (A Network Approach to Capacity Building)

Solving Real-World Problems

Allows for experiential learning opportunities that require the learner to examine and explore naturally occurring phenomenon, where challenges are developed that relate to something the learner cares about or can relate to; real situations that exists in the world in which they live. Real-world challenges that are created should require the learner be flexible in their approach and thinking, be creative, resilient and resourceful, understanding that failure is a step towards finding a solution.