EL Education is an educational nonprofit formed through a partnership with Harvard University and outdoor education nonprofit Outward Bound. Since its inception in 1991, it has trained more than 440,000 students and 30,000 teachers. The original intention was to combine traditional core learning with experiential learning in diverse environments. Unlike a lot of educational nonprofits, EL Education works with not just public schools but a lot of charter and religious schools. Some have recently criticized it as moving more into transforming its education focus into racial and equity issues.

History

EL Education was founded as Expeditionary Learning in 1991 as a collaboration between Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and Outward Bound, an outdoor educational nonprofit. ¹ By the mid-1990s, Expeditionary Education was working with not only public but charter and college-preparatory schools around the country. ² Going into 2015, Expeditionary Learning had already been working with 4,000 teachers and 45,000 students in public and charter schools in 39 states. ³ In 2015, Expeditionary Learning changed its name to EL Education. ³

As of 2020, since inception EL Education had reached over 30,000 teachers and over 440,000 students. ⁴ In 2020, EL Education partnered with at least 36 entire school districts in 18 states. ⁴ Among these are large school districts in Detroit, Charlotte, Richmond, Des Moines, and Hamilton County, Tennessee. ⁵

EL Education partners with 227 individual public and charter schools in 27 states. ⁴

Views and Programs

One of the early successes of EL Education was its common core-focused learning curriculum that won them the support and endorsement of the New York State’s education department as well as districts around the country. ⁶ EL Education seeks to align common core teaching with integration into real-life situations and projects designed for urban and rural, public and charter schools. ⁷

EL Education offers school design and curriculum services. ⁸ The organization will work with individual schools or districts to provide best practices, school culture models, professional development, and coaching. ⁹ Through curriculum services, EL Education offers curriculum for K-12 with individual assessment, implementation, and teacher coaching. ¹⁰ This is both through traditional classroom learning and online courses for students that include home-based free open-sources programs for students and examples of best methods. ¹⁰

Recently, EL Education has been criticized by some for teaching equity and injecting race into curriculum. ¹¹ In 2020, EL Education forged what it called a “new path with equity at the center” as “racial injustices unfolded across the country” so EL Education established student “safe spaces.” ⁴  President and CEO Scott Hartl said that Covid brought the opportunity to disrupt education and highlight inequities, especially racial inequities, in the educational system. ⁵

Finances

EL Education has total assets of $19,387,094. ¹² According to the organization’s tax returns from 2019, EL Education recorded $22,647,681 in revenue and $23,026,670 in expenses. ¹² In 2018, EL Education received $27,137,206 in revenue and had $27,763,935 in expenses. ¹³

Major donors to EL Education include William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, John Templeton Foundation, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Klingenstein Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Bezos Family Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation. ⁴ In 2022, EL Education received an unspecified grant from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. ¹⁴

Leadership

Scott Hartl is a founding member of EL Education and has been president and CEO since 2009. ¹⁵ Hartl was previously a founding principal of a Boston, Massachusetts, middle school and has been a high school teacher. ¹⁵ Hartl was also an instructor with EL Education’s co-founder Outward Bound from 1982-1990. ¹⁶ Since 2017, Hartl has donated over $2,200 to Democratic candidates around the country. ¹⁷

1. University of British Columbia website. EL Education is a Collaboration Between Harvard Graduate School and Outward Bound USA.” December 1, 2018. Accessed May 6, 2022. http://www.selresources.com/sel/el-education-collaboration-harvard-graduate-school-outward-bound-usa/; EL Education press release. “Expeditionary Learning Renames as EL Education.” October 27, 2015. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/expeditionary-learning-renames-as-el-education-300166657.html; Outward Bound website. www.outwardbound.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.outwardbound.org.
2. EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org/who-we-are/history.
3. EL Education press release. “Expeditionary Learning Renames as EL Education.” October 27, 2015. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/expeditionary-learning-renames-as-el-education-300166657.html.
4. EL Education Annual Report. “What Matters Most.” 2020 Annual Report. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://files.eleducation.org/web/downloads/EL-Education-2020-Annual-Report.pdf?_ga=2.215271507.592776933.1652096432-1977362759.1651854682.
5. Forbes Magazine. “Will Covid Be the Opportunity We Need to Reimagine Learning?” August 7, 2020. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2020/08/07/will-covid-be-the-opportunity-we-need-to-reimagine-learning/?sh=5c888fda7ef0.
6. Cunningham, Jason. “Expeditionary Learning Melds PBL and Common Core.” Education World. 2013. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/expeditionary-project-based-learning-common-core.shtml.
7. EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org/what-we-offer/school-design/overview; EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org/who-we-are/history.
8. EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org.
9. EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org/what-we-offer/school-design/overview.
10. EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org/what-we-offer/curriculum-services/curriculum-services-catalog.
11. Fittes, Emma Kate. “Education Companies Swept Up in Idaho Panel’s Search for ‘Indoctrination’ in Learning Materials.” EdWeek Marketbrief. July 1, 2021. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/education-companies-swept-idaho-panels-search-indocrtrination-learning-materials/; Corbin, Clark. “Conservative Speakers and Candidates Dominate Second Education Task Force Meeting.” Idaho Capital Sun. June 24, 2021. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://idahocapitalsun.com/2021/06/24/conservative-speakers-and-candidates-dominate-second-education-task-force-meeting/.
12. EL Education, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2019.
13. EL Education, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2018.
14. MacKenzie Scott Medium. www.medium.com. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9
15. EL Education website. www.eleducation.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://eleducation.org/about/staff/scott-hartl.
16. ^[1] Scott Hartl LinkedIn website. www.linkedin.com. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-hartl-06345b74/.
17. Center for Responsive Politics website. www.opensecrets.org. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Scott+Hartl; California Secretary of State website. www.powersearch.sos.ca.gov. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://powersearch.sos.ca.gov/advanced.php.