Introducing Educational Solutions
Educational Solutions (ES) is a Klamath Falls, Oregon 501(c)(3) public charity. The mission of Educational Solutions is to complement traditional learning by providing balanced information and forums for students and their communities to learn about and discuss challenging issues that divide communities and nations. After 2001, the year of the widely reported water shortage crisis in the Klamath River Basin, ES began development of an educational model for Basin high school students and their communities to address the controversy. (The ES international university project, based on the same educational model, is described here).

Klamath River Watershed
The Klamath River Basin is a watershed of 12,000 square miles, spanning South Central Oregon and Northern California. After years of conflict, Klamath Basin stakeholder leaders are working together to solve Klamath Watershed problems. In the most serious effort to date, the Klamath Settlement Talks, Native Americans, farmers/ranchers, fishermen, and conservationists addressed both economic needs of isolated Basin stakeholder communities as well as watershed-wide problems of water shortage, poor water quality, and declining fish populations. The January 2008 Settlement Agreement, or any such agreement, will take decades of stakeholder cooperation to turn a general framework into policy, legislation, and solutions on the ground.

High School Dialogue Project
Educational Solutions (ES) has developed and implemented a project to involve high school students, the stakeholders of tomorrow, and their communities in the search for solutions to sustain the Klamath Watershed and the Basin communities that depend upon its resources. The ES purpose is to help move Basin thinking from "farms vs. fish" to a sustainable watershed that supports both "farms and fish."

ES's unique educational model engages students of diverse stakeholder communities in finding solutions to contentious problems. Working over the past five years with Basin stakeholder leaders, scientists, and educators, ES developed high school science and civics curricula that fairly present stakeholder perspectives and community-generated solutions for 1) the economic sustainability of stakeholder communities and 2) the sustainability of the Klamath Watershed. High school classes, paired across stakeholder groups, study the same four-week curriculum and, with parent permission, dialogue via email, the ES Website, or face-to-face on field trips. Students complete projects on solutions for presentation to their communities.

In spring 2008, ES successfully completed a four-week pilot dialogue between sophomore biology students in two Oregon high schools. Lost River High School represented Klamath Project farmers and Chiloquin High School represented the Klamath Tribes and off-Project farmers. This pilot was funded by the Gordon Elwood Foundation, the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation, and individual donors.

In fall 2008, funded by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, and individual donors, ES implemented a nine school biology project involving five Oregon schools and four California schools from the Upper and Lower Oregon Klamath River Basin. These nine underserved schools represent threatened farming, Native American, and fishing communities.

Fall 2008 Results
92% average improvement from pre to posttest scores for 325 student participants

89% (219/247)of the students said that after the ES project they had a better understanding of Klamath Basin water issues.

72% (177/247) said they would recommend the project to their schools.

57% (178/315) earned one unit of college credit from the Oregon Institute of Technology for A or B work on both their posttests and projects.

Community Outreach
ES is completing a community outreach project, featuring solutions to watershed problems offered by scientists, stakeholders, and high school students who have worked with ES. The video titled Vision of the River looks at human impacts on the Klamath Watershed and ways to increase water quantity and improve fish habitat and fish numbers. The dvd will be submitted to Southern Oregon Public Television (SOPTV) for possible cable channel distribution as well as made available to community access cable channels and by dvd to all Basin county and school libraries. (Two ES dvds, produced in 2006, were similarly distributed and still play regularly on cable channels in the Upper Klamath River Basin.)

Educational Solutions Goals
Expected outcomes are 1) to prepare Basin high school students to become effective stakeholders, able to express the needs of their stakeholder group in a civil manner, to understand the needs of other groups and the watershed; and 2) to provide students and residents of diverse Basin communities with balanced information about Klamath watershed problems and solutions, helping them to move toward Basin-wide solutions.

Our priority is to counter polarized thinking and advance thoughtful consideration of scientific and civil solutions to Basin conflicts by teaching civil dialogue, critical thinking, respect for competing groups, and conflict resolution techniques. ES provides balanced educational material and employs attractive technologies to engage youth in dialogue across stakeholder groups.

We value stewardship and sustainability of our environment and the human communities that depend upon it. We value the potential of science to help solve the problems of the environment and aid in the economic survival of the diverse stakeholder communities.