At Lead, we believe learning should be an experience. Our structure for this is learning expeditions. These make content standards come alive for students. These long-term, in-depth studies offer real-world connections that inspire students toward higher levels of academic achievement.  Learning expeditions involve students in original research, critical thinking, and problem solving, and they build character along with academic skills. All learning expeditions explicitly focus on building literacy skills in students, particularly in the reading and writing of nonfiction text.

Expeditions take multiple, powerful elements of learing and join them together: guiding questions, kickoff experiences, case studies, projects, lessons, fieldwork, experts, service learning, and a culminating event featuring high-quality student work. All of these structures can also be used independently, outside of full learning expeditions.