What is SES?

Opened in 1994 as a unique partnership between Independent School District 196, the City of Apple Valley, and the State of Minnesota (Minnesota Zoo) SES is a response to the well-documented need to create smaller, more effective learning communities providing authentic learning experiences.

To this end SES immerses its students in the study of environmental topics and issues working with and often alongside professionals in the field. Students gradute from SES knowing how to learn as well as what to learn and are well prepared for a lifetime of participation and education.

Learning in academic houses

SES is Divided Into Four Houses

The academic house is both the physical and philosophical division of the school into smaller communities. Each of four houses is made up of about one hundred students in either grade 11 or 12. Two houses are for juniors, two for seniors. The house meets for one-half of each student day.

During house-time the subjects of Language Arts (English and communications), environmental science, and social studies are applied to the study of complex issues related to the environment. Some of the work is highly content-specific while larger studies are of an interdisciplinary nature.

House is scheduled by the staff based on the needs of the day. Sometimes three, one hour classes in each discipline area are needed to deepen understanding of some new concepts. Other times a combination of small group and large group sessions will enhance the likelihood of students making abstract connections between subject matter.

Each House is Divided Into Ten Pods

The house is divided into ten pods. These ten pods surround the center of the house on three sides. This center serves as a meeting space, divided classroom, work area, and in other functions as needed by the students and staff.

The Pod Contains About Ten Students

Each pod has desks for the students (typically ten) in that pod. These desks have a writing surface, a lockable drawer and a tackable suface on which to place pictures and such. Along with two large wardrobes, this workspace becomes the student's home at school. The building has no lockers.

Learning through elective choices

During the half of the day not spent in house students select from an array of elective classes. Electives at SES are offered based on student need and on their relationship to the interdisciplnary program.

Electives are also taken during intensive theme periods. These seven school-day adventures are filled with courses lasting six hours a day. Content varies greatly and spans items as diverse as wilderness first aid certification and eco-architecture.

The SES field study program is part of the intensive theme electives opportunity. Students do comparative and exploratory studies of environments ranging from winter wilderness to tropical dive camps.

Structures and designs

The student-teacher ratio at SES is similar to that of other district high schools. It does not, however, appear that way to either students or teachers. A doctoral study of the climate of the school reported that responses from students such as "my teachers really know me" and "I feel cared about in my school" were at a rate much higher than results reported from the district's other schools. Extended blocks of time allow students and faculty to have multiple contacts during each school day. Also, an emphasis on individual and group study in addition to teacher-centered didacticism, encourages interactions that are not only frequent, but highly valued. The SES Inquiry and Discovery program and intensive theme periods also provide for additional contact between teachers and learners.

A visiting architect studying the relationship of building space to student activity noticed that the teacher offices are located within the academic houses and that the doors are seldom closed. Students take this as an invitation to discuss. The flow of traffic through those doors is constant, sometimes for questions academic, but as often to share some personal thought or experience. Teachers eat in the same forum and walk in the same lunch line, again embracing the ideal of student/faculty within the same community of learners.

The participatory nature of the school creates many opportunities for community members to understand each other. Opportunities include the all-school Socratic Seminars, overnight camping in the fall, winter (in Minnesota!) and spring, and our annual Earth Day celebration.