What is Crew?
Crew is NYC Outward Bound Schools’ signature advisory structure that supports social, emotional and academic development.
In a broader sense, Crew is also a school-wide culture and mindset; the spirit of “Crew, not passengers” — a phrase coined by Outward Bound founder Kurt Hahn — demonstrates that we are stronger together than we are individually. Crew leads to more vibrant, engaged and connected school communities where every student feels a sense of belonging and agency.
This pathway helps schools build sustainable Crew structures and a school-wide culture of Crew, where students and educators practice empathy and compassion, look out for one another, and work toward shared goals.
Student Outcomes:
Belonging
Students feel seen, heard and valued as their full selves in their school community.
Agency
Students have agency and voice in collaboratively building their school culture and community.
Self-awareness
Students develop a greater sense of who they are as humans and learners.
Leadership
Students grow their skills as leaders, building on their strengths and areas for growth.
Goal-setting
Students set goals and create plans to meet those goals — dealing with and managing setbacks as they go.
Empathy
Students foster empathy and compassion for themselves and those around them.
Our goal is to make sure that each student in our school has somebody looking out for them and advocating for them. The Crew Leader is the person that’s responsible for the social-emotional support of this child. Crew is the front line of lateness, it is the front line of absenteeism, it is the front line of academics.
Read our Crew case studies:
What It Looks Like in Practice:
Crew lessons, units and curriculum
that build belonging and connection, so that students develop a greater sense of who they are and feel seen, heard and valued within the community.
Opportunities to center student voice
that are intentional and designed to help young people reflect on who they are as humans and learners, and take on leadership roles.
Personal and academic goal-setting
that centers students’ current and future aspirations, and includes postsecondary planning for college and career.
Co-planning with students
and utilizing data to ensure that the planning and facilitation of Crew improves over time.
School-wide practices
that ensure the Crew ethos is integrated across the entire community, such as restorative justice and community meetings.
See Crew in Action
A Crew lesson is typically made up of the same building blocks. This consistency helps foster belonging and trust among students. Watch the videos to learn more:
How We Support Crew
Our approach to supporting Crew is two-pronged — through Coaching and Networked Learning.
Coaching
We work with partner schools to build the capacity to successfully embed a Crew program and culture in their school communities. We provide one-on-one coaching to educators and leaders and together, develop a data-driven plan to achieve goals unique to the school’s needs.
Networked Learning
Crew schools participate in a continuous improvement group with other schools who have a common problem of practice. Together with this group and the larger cohort, they engage in collective problem-solving, generate short-cycle change ideas, and analyze data to assess impact.
Cost
- 9 days of coaching
- Networking Improvement Community:
- Two full-day convenings
- Three 2-hr in-person convenings
- Three 2-hr virtual convenings
- Two half-day intervisitations
- Summer PD (e.g. Crew Institute)
- Two whole network convenings (kick-off and end-of-year)
Total cost: $14,676
To learn more about partnership, contact:
Aurora Kushner
Vice President, School Programming and Impact
[email protected]