Giving Compass' Take:

• Schools in Philadelphia incorporate outdoor education programs into their curriculum from Outward Bound's expeditions to teach students valuable life lessons.  

• What lessons are students learning in outdoor education that educators are not able to explain in the classroom? 

• Read about the importance of access to environmental education. 

The School District of Philadelphia has adopted a new strategy to boost graduation rates that has very little to do with reading, writing or arithmetic. Instead, it has everything to do with leadership skills, team building, character development and other byproducts of Outward Bound’s outdoor expeditions.

The district's top administrator views the strategy as a no-brainer. "It creates this deep sense of purpose — of taking care of your fellow students, of depending on them, of encouraging them," Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia school leaders, the article says, believe the Outward Bound program has the potential to improve academic achievement, especially among high school freshmen.

A Stanford University synthesis of the research on environmental education (EE) found “clear evidence” that learning both in and about the great outdoors improves academic performance, enhances critical thinking and contributes to a number of life-building attributes, including confidence, autonomy and leadership skills.

In addition to Outward Bound, the environmental education resources available to educators are vast. An Edutopia article recommends starting local by reaching out to experts in your area and exploring already existing programs organized by church organizations, YMCA camps, Boy and Girl Scout facilities, state parks, and other schools.

Some schools have also stretched beyond occasional expeditions to implement "forest school" models in which students spend the majority of a school day in the woods.

Read the full article about outdoor education by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive