Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School

Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School combines wilderness and city field trips to help students grow academically and develop a sense of responsibility.

Field trips and projects are common. For example teens donned waders and got in the ocean alongside scientists taking part in a horseshoe crab case study. A digital filmmaking group made sample commercials.

The school shares the Tilden Educational Campus with two other schools. The building has worked to overcome a poor reputation and some children say they don’t feel safe outside the school, according to school surveys. However, safety issues have improved since the building hired a campus manager. Now, all three schools use restorative practices, an approach to working through conflicts before they become larger problems. 

Students take the same range of courses as those offered at most city schools, but teachers delve more deeply into topics and encourage students to be flexible thinkers. Projects, presentations, reading, writing and rich class discussions are emphasized in all grades and subjects. The graduation and college readiness rates are on par with the citywide average.

Kurt Hahn is part of the New York Performance Consortium, a group of schools exempt from administering all but the English Regents exam. Eleventh- and 12th-graders must complete PBATs (performance-based assessment tasks), which involve extensive research and reading as well as writing and presenting papers in English, math, history and science on topics of their own choosing.

Ninth graders participate in a five-day wilderness adventure course in the Catskills. This trip allows teachers to learn how their students solve problems and deal with unusual situations and challenges. The students are asked to try new activities, like ropes courses, outdoor cooking, and mountain climbing, and the program is designed to encourage bonding among students.

The school’s namesake, Kurt Hahn, was a German Jewish educator who founded Outward Bound, known for wilderness programs that foster social skills and personal growth.

Daily advisory classes called crews are the backbone of all NYC Outward Bound schools. Whenever possible, crews formed during freshman year remain together through senior year and have the same teacher-advisor.

The majority of students arrive performing below grade level according to the School Quality Guide. The school has additional basic skills classes to help students catch up, an extended day program and a summer bridge program.

There is an Advanced Placement English and Literature Composition Course and high-performing students can take classes for college credit.

On school surveys, some students and teachers report concerns about safety and order. Following the restorative justice model, the school tries to deal with conflict before it builds. A goal in the yearly plan is to discipline students using non-punitive practices like peer mediation and peer mentoring, and using alternatives to suspensions such as community service.

Though each school occupies a distinct section of the campus, facilities are shared, including a newly renovated auditorium and playing field, a swimming pool and multiple gymnasiums. The campus is clean and well-kept, with a manicured lawn and flowers. Campus-wide athletic teams include football and track.

There is an emphasis on college preparation including college visits and help with applications. Most students attend CUNY schools and some go to SUNY schools, such as Geneseo and Albany. Some students have gone on to Syracuse, Hobart Williams Smith, Union, SUNY Binghampton, Colgate University and Rutgers.

ADMISSIONS: The school admits a range of students who score in the low, middle and high range on the standardized 8th grade English language arts exam in middle school. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, June 2018; updated August 2020)