Our Mission
As a K-12 community, the mission of the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning (RMSEL) is to empower students and staff to be learners, thinkers, citizens, and explorers engaged in and inspired by the real world. "We are crew not passengers."
Dear RMSEL Parent Community and Prospective Parents,
I would like to share with you the plethora of great events and learning that take place at RMSEL. At the core of this learning is our mission statement, guiding our work as professionals as we strive for excellence for your child. This statement reads:
“As a K-12 community, the mission of the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning (RMSEL) is to empower students and staff to be learners, thinkers, citizens, and explorers engaged in and inspired by the real world. ‘We are crew not passengers’."
At RMSEL, we believe in providing your students with an instructional framework based on learning expeditions. These expeditions make up the context of instruction around an engaging topic connected to real world experience. Within a learning expedition, you will find multiple curricular disciplines. A topic will cover the content standards for science and humanities in alignment with the State of Colorado. These learning expeditions will incorporate writing, reading, science, and math when applicable. Since math can be more challenging to integrate into each learning expedition, we provide students with direct math instruction daily.
Within each learning expedition, crew leaders will incorporate “fieldwork.” Fieldwork is a buzz word here at RMSEL which refers to off-campus learning that crew leaders integrate into each learning expedition to enrich the experience and teach each topic to mastery. When students engage in fieldwork, they are able to see how each topic is related to the real world.
Along with being learners and thinkers, we also encourage students to become responsible citizens and explorers through our character education and adventure program. Students do not have concrete rules but a set of character values that guide the actions of the crew in the classroom, on fieldwork, and in a wilderness setting. Our adventure program takes students ages 6–18 into the wilderness on crew trips a minimum of two times annually. Our crew trips range from a bicycle expedition to Cherry Creek State Park to a week long sailing trip on the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
As our school grows, we focus on our traditions that have established us as a Top School in Denver by 5280 on two occasions as well as our history of Accreditation with Distinction by the State of Colorado. To move forward and grow “as a K-12 community…,” we have set forth a strategic plan for our continued success. This strategic plan incorporates many new aspects to our tradition of excellence, which will provide us with direction as we embark on the 21st century. Our school will continue to offer small class sizes of 25 students per class. We will also provide students with additional choice and diversity to our elective program with Spanish, Music, and Literacy and Mathematics Intervention.
An integral part of our success is the investment that we make in the professional development of our teaching staff. Our teachers receive over 100 hours of on-site professional development annually. Along with on-site professional development, we also provide over half our staff with off-site professional development opportunities through Expeditionary Learning (EL) and the Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC). As staff members, we embody our mission statement in our ability to be “learners, thinkers, and explorers, engaged in the real world.”
This synopsis of our school does not highlight every phenomenal experience that your student will engage in at RMSEL but can provide you with information as you select the direction for your family’s educational journey. In the event you have any questions through the acceptance or enrollment process, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Chad Burns
Executive Director
Click HERE to access the application form for 2012-2013.
Click HERE for additional information regarding the application process.
Click HERE for Teacher Information Forms (required with application).
See the "Enrollment" link on the left for more information.
Why donate?
Why donate... because you can help make our school the best it can be!- Contribute a one-time amount from $20 to $2000 or more.
- Contribute a monthly amount from $5 to $500 or more.
Remember every dollar counts towards giving our kids the best learning environment possible. Any donation benefits the school and the giver in many ways...
Students benefit from:
- Smaller teacher to student ratios
- Specialist programming, such as art, fitness, technology
The givers benefit from:
- A tax deduction for any amount contributed. (i.e. $500 only costs about $350 after
taxes; $20/month only costs about $14/month after taxes.) - Get to avoid private school tuition for what feels like a private school education!
If you’re not sure what amount to pick, how about $1/day for each school day? There are about 170 student contact days in a school year, so that’s $170/child or $14.16/month (over a 12 month period)!
We’re counting on everyone to help raise money, please join us in any way or amount you can!
