NExA: A different school of thought

HAYDEN — Why sit in a classroom day after day when you can have an education steeped in adventure?

"One thing that’s different about this school that no other school has is that we go on expeditions and go out learning somewhere else than the classroom," said Madison Nelson, a fourth-grader at Northwest Expedition Academy (NExA) in Hayden.

"It’s actually better than any other school and I actually love it here because we do interactive stuff," she said. "I like it here better than any other school."

A recent expedition Madison and her classmates and teacher embarked upon was just a short jaunt to the produce department of Super 1 Foods. The students are learning about how to market the produce they're growing in their classroom.

Yes, in the classroom.

"It’s hydroponics,” Madison said, her face lighting up as she shared her botanical knowledge. "It’s no soil. Grown inside and they are fed with water and then plant food. We’re growing lettuce, herbs, microgreens, all sorts of things.

"The red lettuce is actually really good," she said. "It’s actually better than normal lettuce. It's really nutritious and it’s fresh."

An indoor hydroponic microgreen garden. Chicken farming. Snowshoeing for P.E. Virtual reality space exploration. More than 50 field trip expeditions into the world each year.

It's project-based learning, referred to as PBL; it's a reimagining of traditional education that engages kids in hands-on learning with real-world applications.

And it's what NExA is all about.

"Everything that we do is project-based, but it’s authentic. We don’t do anything that doesn’t have a purpose," said Principal Bill Rutherford. "Everywhere we go, we'll see something that is making the world better."

NExA, a K-5 Coeur d'Alene public school, is halfway through its second school year of existence. It took over the old Hayden Lake School at 9650 N. Government Way and breathed new life into a historic building by taking a historic leap into a non-traditional approach to learning for its more than 300 students.

It all began when Rutherford had ideas about expeditionary learning back when he was the principal at Fernan STEM Academy. He studied concepts and best practices and drew inspiration from Outward Bound, a network of outdoor education schools, as well as the Buck Institute for Education, a leading authority on PBL that provides tools and resources for schools and educators.

"The idea of bringing kids outside to learn was super intriguing to me, because I love the outdoors and I'm an outdoor guy," he said. "Academic rigor has always been really important too, which is something Outward Bound didn't really have. It didn't really catch as much as PBL does."

Academics do play a vital role in the PBL curriculum, but you won't see any desks or worksheets in NExA's classrooms.

“The kids, they don’t feel what you feel in a traditional school," Rutherford said. "The kids learn where they learn."

Visitors will notice a lot of journals, as writing is a huge focus. They'll notice whiteboards covered in student work, lots of teamwork and collaboration and oral testing (formative assessments) taking place between teachers and students as the students demonstrate their understanding of different subjects.

"They can’t wait to talk to the teacher,” Rutherford said. "Kids, usually, in class, don’t get the chance to talk to a teacher, so they get to talk to the teachers all day because the teachers ask them a ton of questions and the kids just beam when it happens."

Rutherford said NExA students are responsible for the same assessments as other students in the district. They take the Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) as well as monthly i-Ready math and Istation reading assessments.

"Our kids perform really well," Rutherford said. "This is only our second year, so we don’t have really a benchmark, so this will be our benchmark year. We'll really know how we perform with the rest of the district after this year."

How will parents know how their kids are doing? Not with a parent-teacher conference.

Instead, the students put their learning on display during exhibitions, where they can share their knowledge with their parents and school community.

People may have questions about this different approach to school. A couple of families have bowed out when they didn't feel it was right for their young learner.

But only a couple.

When people ask exactly what goes on at NExA, Rutherford responds, "Let me show you. Let's go for a walk."

"When we opened the school, we had 100, 200 actually, reluctant parents who didn't want to come here with their kids. I talked to each one of those parents and had the same conversation I’m having with you. ‘Let’s have this conversation about what this is. And then we’ll talk again in December and you tell me if I lied to you.'"

The response?

"Everybody's like, 'I love this school. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you for doing this for my kids,'" Rutherford said.

That feeling continues to grow. Every classroom is full to capacity, and up to about 50 students have transferred from other schools in the district to experience what NExA has to offer.

It's inclusive, where special needs kids and special education teachers are found in classrooms alongside everyone else.

"I like this school because it’s unique," said fifth-grader Kyhlie King. "It’s really different and fun."

It's thought-provoking, where kids are encouraged to ask meaningful, essential questions as they seek the knowledge that gives their work a purpose.

"The reason I love being a student here is because the amazing things we get to learn, like we learned about planets, about the human body," said NExA fifth-grader Kyller Pahl. "It’s actually nice to learn because when you grow up later, you get a better future and someone asks you a question, ‘What’s this?’ ‘Oh, I know what that is.’"

And it's positivity-focused, with three main rules: be kind, work hard, be safe.

"It doesn’t feel like a traditional school at all," Rutherford said. "It’s just that there’s a whole bunch of really happy people here. It’s good. The culture is really strong."