About us
Learn how Outdoor School came into being.
The Oregon State University Extension Service Outdoor School Program
Our mission
Together we guide and support equitable, culturally responsive, and interdisciplinary outdoor school programs for Oregon's youth.
Our vision
Outdoor School will create equitable and positive outcomes for every Oregonian through empowering learning experiences.
Our values
Equity, diversity, and inclusion. Relationships, Innovation, Integrity, and Quality. These core values are central to how we perform our work.
Our role
The OSU Extension Service manages the distribution of public funding to Oregon’s public school districts for outdoor school (per ORS 327.390). The Extension Service was also tasked with reporting that publicly-funded outdoor schools in Oregon are a success.
To do this, the Extension Service created and staffed the Outdoor School program office. The Outdoor School program also supports the efforts of public school districts and outdoor school providers to improve outdoor school for all students.
We do this by:
- Supporting outreach and inclusion efforts so every student can have a welcoming, positive, and inclusive experience.
- Supporting districts to encourage every student's participation.
- Providing timely help to districts to ensure the funding process is smooth and accessible.
- Providing professional development and supporting curriculum development.
- Providing program self-evaluation tools to strengthen outdoor school programs.
- Helping build and maintain a statewide outdoor school network.
General information
Are you a parent with a question about your child's outdoor school program? Please contact your child's school or school district to talk with the designated district representative or outdoor school contact. General information about outdoor school across Oregon can be read below.
Outdoor school has over 60 years of history in Oregon
Outdoor school is a week of effective, inquiry-based science education in the field.
Launched in 1957, outdoor school is an innovative field science program started in Southern Oregon. Within a few short years, pilot programs in other regions of Oregon took hold. In 1965, federal grants aided this process, leading to regional outdoor school programs. Communities across Oregon embraced this chance for students to move from classrooms to the outdoors to learn. By the 1970s, Outdoor school was being offered to students in school districts from the coast to the central high desert.
Outdoor school has provided an interactive and engaging experience to students.
Over the decades, these outdoor schools have been places for students to learn about the natural world. Topics of study have included soil, water, plants, animals, habitats, and natural cycles. Also highlighted have been natural sciences specific to the local community and economy. In the early years, outdoor school focused on conservation education and natural resources. Over time, the focus grew to include environmental education and science inquiry. All along, outdoor school has provided an interactive and engaging experience to students.
For many children, outdoor school is their first experience hiking in a forest. It could also be their first time exploring a sandy beach, or singing songs around the campfire. For others, outdoor school deepens their understanding about the natural world. Outdoor school can create lifelong memories and relationships. It also provides an energizing, inclusive, and often emotional experience in the outdoors. Students report feeling connected to nature and making friends. Some students say they develop a passion for being outside, feel their life is changed, or even “find their calling”.
Whether organized by a school district, an Educational Services District (ESD), a non-profit organization, or a partnership with natural resource professionals, outdoor school is an important common thread for Oregon students. As outdoor school grows in participation, programs aim to develop culturally responsive and inclusive curriculum.
Outdoor school providers lean into questions such as:
- How do we meet the needs of all students?
- How do we ensure diverse representation on the teaching staff?
- How do we ensure access for all abilities, languages, and identities?
And most importantly, outdoor schools must continue to ask:
- Who is missing from the conversation?
Together, we strive to fulfill the promise of “Outdoor School for All”!
Outdoor school history and student experience
Transcript
Animated whiteboard illustration that begins with the shape of Oregon state and words "All about Outdoor School history and the student experience."
It shows:
Early on: conservation, outdoor recreation, cap style activities.
History
- 1950s conservation education and resources focus
- 1970s environmental education, connecting with nature
- 1990s science inquiry models, accessibility, budget cuts
- 2010s/2020s outdoor school for all! meausre 99 passes in 2016, outdoor school now publicly funded, accessibility and inclusion
Rally to save outdoor school
Creative solutions during pandemic
Center student voices
What does outdoor school mean to you?
- Lifelong memories + relationships
- Exploring boundaries
- Emotional expreience outdoors
- Inclusivity
- Energizing
- Hope
- Emotional experience outdoors
Federally support through the 80s, then Oregon residents advocated for permanent funding
Keep improving models so that every kid can belong.
Models and structures:
- Regional ESD
- School district
- Natural resource professional
- Nonprofit environmental org
- Grad student model
What are similar experiences for students?
- Sense of community
- Belonging
- Homesickness
- Hands-on learning
- Relationship building
- Independence
- Difficult experiences are shared too
Questions
- How to make outdoor school inclusive?
- Diverse staff
- Decolonize experience
- Equal - not "one size fits all"
- Access for all abilities and languages
- What should guide our work?
- How to help advocate
- Focus on student needs
- Support providers
- Who is missing from the conversation?
Outdoor school stories
- Connected to nature
- Bloomed as a leader
- Changes lives
- "I have friends now"
- "I was special too"
- "Critter catch"
- Let's go see something cool....
- Some are born to teach
- Found his calling
- Felt belonging for the first time
- Reading to student in cabin
Drawn by: Urban Wild Studios
The story of Measure 99
In July 2014, a passionate and committed group of community leaders, deeply concerned about the legacy of Oregon’s investment in outdoor education and stewardship of our natural resources, joined together to found the Oregon Outdoor Education Coalition (OOEC). Core support came from former Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder, the Gray Family Foundation, Friends of Outdoor School, the Metropolitan Group, and Multnomah Education Service District Outdoor School, among many other partners. From there, the Oregon Outdoor Education Coalition expanded into a bipartisan statewide movement led by educators, businesspeople, and tribal and community leaders with Friends of Outdoor School, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, acting as their fiscal sponsor.
The OOEC successfully championed the passage of the historic Outdoor School bill (SB 439) in the 2015 legislative session. The bill created the structure, framework, and a management system for the first-ever statewide Outdoor School grant and assistance program.
The next phase was a campaign to secure the necessary public funding for outdoor school programs via a November 2016 ballot initiative known as Measure 99. This effort was led by the Outdoor School for All campaign and supported by the OOEC.
As a result of the passage of Oregon Senate Bill 439 in 2015, and the passage of Measure 99, SB 439 was codified into law as ORS 327.390. With ORS 327.390 in place, the Governor and Legislature worked to dedicate lottery dollars in their biennial budget, establishing a permanent, stable source of funding for outdoor school.
In 2017, Oregon State University Extension Service (OSU Extension) was given responsibility for distributing funds to school districts and education service districts (ESDs) to establish and operate outdoor school programs. Thus providing every Oregon public school student the opportunity to benefit from a hands-on week of science-based outdoor education in fifth or sixth grade.