Our Mission

Mission Statement

The Crossroads School strives to be a vibrant community of learners committed to opening minds, opening worlds and opening possibilities through discovery and diversity. We aim to create a middle school that draws students, teachers, and parents together in the pursuit of high standards of academic achievement, character, conduct, and service to the community.

The Crossroads School Offers

  • A challenging, interdisciplinary curriculum including the basics and beyond.
  • Active, hands-on learning experiences in all subject areas.
  • Small class sizes with an emphasis on technology and the arts.
  • Personalized instruction designed to meet all students' individual needs.
  • An experienced faculty dedicated to helping students reach high standards.
  • Exciting programs offered through our partner organizations.
  • Character education and service learning integrated into the curriculum.
  • Opportunities for students to learn while exploring the city and the natural world

 

How We're Different

The New Basics

The curriculum of The Crossroads School focuses upon the New Basics of a 21st century education by combining rigorous instruction in the fundamentals with hands-on, interdisciplinary projects. In addition to reading, writing and math, we consider technology, cooperative learning, critical thinking and the real-world application of knowledge to be fundamental basics of an educated person.

Choice

Our school is a school where students and families choose to attend and where teachers choose to teach. The Crossroads School is founded on the notion that students and families need choices in public education. This commitment to choice extends to the curriculum as well. Where appropriate, efforts will be made to provide students with substantive choices regarding their own educational program.

Structure

The structure of The Crossroads School is designed to allow the support and flexibility needed to help all students achieve at their highest possible level.

Size

By maintaining a small size The Crossroads School hopes to foster individual development and growth within all of our students through the forging of meaningful relationships between teachers, students and content. The Crossroads School will strive to ensure that the ratio of teachers to students never exceeds 1:25. Our total enrollment goal for grades 6,7 and 8 is 150 students.

Expeditionary Learning

In our formative years, The Crossroads School was working with the nationally recognized organization Outward Bound in the creation of instructional program. This curriculum model, known as Expeditionary Learning, is designed around long-term, in-depth investigations of a topic that engage students through authentic projects, fieldwork and service learning. The work students do within learning expeditions centers on rigorous academic achievement, critical thinking, essential skills and habits, personal development and high quality original work.

Diversity and Inclusion

The founders of The Crossroads School believe that diversity is an essential source of strength within learning communities. Therefore, our school implements an integrated, multicultural curriculum that presents students with diverse viewpoints, histories, and perspectives. Additionally, the school practices full inclusion of special education students in the regular classroom, meeting their needs through small group instruction, individualized tutoring, and direct services by specialists.

Assessment

At The Crossroads School assessment is authentic and ongoing. In our school assessment is a means of answering the essential question "Are we there yet?" Seen as a valuable tool for enhancing student achievement, assessment takes many forms including portfolio development, student reflection, peer review and presentations before discerning audiences. Integrated performance-based assessments are developed and administered quarterly in all three grades. These tests enable parents, teachers and students to monitor progress and identify areas in need of attention.

Community Partnerships

The Crossroads School is committed to the communities that it serves. It is our belief that education can be a source of economic, social, and even spiritual renewal in our communities. In many ways these communities become our classrooms as we move into the project phase of our daily schedule. By partnering with community groups, businesses, area colleges, and others, we strive to enrich our students' learning by reaching out to our diverse community in numerous ways.

 

Parent/Student/Teacher Compact

We ask teachers, students and parents to make certain commitments to each other regarding their participation in the life of The Crossroads School. These commitments are outlined in the Teacher/Student/Parent Compact that all stakeholders will be asked to read, discuss and sign prior to making the choice to join the school. This agreement contains five distinct commitments:

  • Commitment to Quality -I agree to show my commitment to quality by continually striving to reach high standards of achievement, character and conduct. This includes making myself available to others, resolving conflicts peacefully, doing my best on all assignments, arriving on time each day with all materials, and following all school rules.
  • Honor and Integrity - I agree to show honor and integrity in all circumstances by being truthful, respecting myself and others, and taking responsibility for my actions. I will communicate with others in a manner that respects both their dignity and my own.
  • No Excuses - I agree to take responsibility for my behavior and to avoid making excuses for the behavior of others, especially with regard to academic achievement. I will demonstrate my belief that all students at The Crossroads School can and will learn.
  • Perseverance - I agree to persevere in the face of challenges. I will let nothing stop me from reaching my full potential. Perseverance requires having the courage to ask for help when it is needed.
  • Contribution - I agree to regularly contribute to the life of the school and to be of service to the other members of the learning community. I will volunteer my time to help others and will do so with a positive attitude.

 

Habits of Mind

At The Crossroads School we are interested in facilitating the development of lifelong learners and global citizens. Toward that end, there are a number of Habits of Mind that we seek to instill in our students. The Habits of Mind are interdisciplinary in nature and infuse our instructional program. These habits include: the question of evidence; the question of perspective in all its multiplicity; the search for connections and patterns; and the question of relevance; and finally the challenge of effectively communicating using a variety of media. Simply stated, when faced with learning challenges inside or outside of the classroom, Crossroads students will demonstrate the following Habits of Mind:

  • Test Assumptions and Gather Evidence
  • Consider Diverse Perspectives and Multiple Resources
  • Search for Connections and Patterns
  • Identify Relevance
  • Communicate Effectively

Student portfolios, performance-based assessments and semi-annual Presentations of Learning will provide evidence that these habits of mind are being developed.

Presentations of Learning

At the culmination of each year, students prepare Presentations of Learning. This process requires each student to reflect on the progress that he or she has made by selecting work samples that best represent their development as a learner and citizen. These presentations are rich opportunities for students to present before a panel made up of parents, teachers, community members and their peers in order to articulate specific successes, struggles, projects and experiences that have contributed to their learning. These presentations are followed by questions from the panel to further probe each student's insights and assess his or her overall level of accomplishment and proficiency with the Maryland Learning Outcomes and the Habits of Mind. Presentations of Learning will occur at the end of January and at the end of May. Successful completion of the May Presentation of Learning is a promotion requirement for all students.