Crane Country Day School has instituted some small changes this academic year that are having a large impact.
The school hired a time management consultant who spent one week on Crane’s campus last year carefully reviewing the school’s academic scheduling and suggesting recommendations for improvement.
“The modifications are all designed to gain more academic time in core subjects, while retaining the rich diversity of our specialist programs,” said Joel Weiss, Crane’s head of school.
He said the school is continuously re-evaluating programs to ensure that it remains vital, relevant and incorporates advancing technologies and changing needs.
So far, the changes have been working. Students gained 44 more hours of classroom instruction simply by shifting the school’s start time to 8 a.m. from 8:15 a.m.
“While at first some parents bemoaned the earlier start, most would now agree the additional class time it affords is worth waking up for,” Weiss said.
If the earlier start time took some getting used to, so did the new six-day cycle, which designates a letter, from A to F, for each day of the week, replacing the traditional Monday through Friday agenda.
“What this means is that students have 36 periods over a six-day cycle, affording more time and consistency in core academics like math and English,” said Peggy Smith, head of Upper School.
It also means that if holidays consistently fall on Mondays, then students are not regularly missing this day. Smith said the new rotation helps balance the pace of the day, making it less frenetic and incorporating breaks to maximize student focus during class time.
One of these breaks is Study Hall, a designated 35-minute, four-day-per-week period that is unrestricted time for sixth- through eighth-graders to use wisely.
“We are empowering the Upper School students by giving them this gift of time, which they can use to do homework, study, meet with a teacher or simply read for pleasure,” Smith said.
Middle school years represent a unique time in the life of kids, when they grow physically, emotionally and intellectually, and they crave independence from parents and teachers.
“Study Hall acknowledges this need for independence and grants increasing freedom, and with that, comes increasing responsibility,” Smith said.
One of the unique aspects of Crane Country Day School is its focus on mixed-grade programs, and another multiage course was introduced to much success this year.
“Everyone knows that Crane is an elementary school for children in kindergarten through eighth grade, but unlike most elementary schools in our area, Crane doesn’t isolate the various ages; instead, we purposely integrate them,” Weiss said. “We believe that there is great power and learning in feeling that you are a part of a bigger school. That is why we have the same start and end times for all students, the same recess and lunch periods, the same daily assembly and the Families program.”
And new this year is mixed-aged Advisory Groups that pair sixth- through eighth-graders with a faculty adviser, ensuring that students have at least one adult on campus (in addition to their teachers) who knows him or her well and can provide personal attention. Advisory groups meet briefly at the start of each school day and for longer periods on Friday afternoons to discuss everything from campus activities and social matters among classmates to local, national or global concerns.
All Upper School students learn about global issues through their community service coursework, which in the past year has reached out to charitable organizations from Santa Barbara to Kenya. The eighth-grade class in particular experiences global outreach through a service learning trip to Costa Rica. Partnering with the World Leadership School, Crane students worked at Cristo Rey School in the northern Chilamate region, reading with school children, stocking the school library and making repairs in the classroom.
The mission of the World Leadership School is to empower young leaders to find new and innovative approaches to the world’s pressing problems. So, between whitewater rafting and zip-lining, the students learned about millennium developments and interviewed local community leaders.
“There’s tremendous power in kids helping kids,” said Smith, who accompanied the students.
Community outreach is integral to the Crane experience.
“We are hopefully cultivating future leaders,” Weiss said. “Therefore, our students need to gain a greater world perspective.”
Crane Country Day School is accepting applications for kindergarten through eighth grades. The admission deadline is Feb. 15. Click here for more information. To schedule a tour, call Julia at 805.969.7732 x127.
— Ann Pieramici represents Crane Country Day School.
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