Students have opportunities to explore content with depth, building knowledge in order to apply, transfer and create with that knowledge. Students learn how to learn, exercising agency to make choices best suited for their own learning style. Students develop the metacognition, schema, and thinking skills to tackle any developmentally appropriate task or challenge.

Teachers choose depth over breadth - “Teach less, learn more.” Rather than a goal of “coverage” which often equates to surface understanding and knowledge easily forgotten, educators aim for deep understanding of less content/knowledge - which research demonstrates builds schema and the thinking skills to transfer that learning to new and novel contexts. Teachers narrow the scope of explicit knowledge instruction and tasks of recall, and widen the scope of meaning-making, applying, evaluating, and creating with that knowledge. Teachers conceptualize content knowledge as vitally important - and “always a means to the end of some underlying, conceptual understanding.”

Students collaborate to apply and transfer learning and create something that did not exist before. Students recognize the need for group roles, interdependence, and collective thinking in order to do their best work.

Site leaders choose depth over breadth, narrowing school priorities and professional learning goals to 1-3 desired outcomes. Site systems, structures and professional learning models work harmoniously toward those outcomes, with clear benchmarks in place and attainable action steps outlined. Site leaders support educators to make thoughtful choices toward depth by articulating cohesive vertical plans and what is tight vs loose, and by enabling the structures and conditions necessary for educators to succeed.