Academic Excellence

A Calvert School education is based on a solid foundation in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Our students are introduced to materials of superior quality to master reading comprehension and literary analysis. They learn to write with style and discipline.

At first, students are encouraged to write from their own experiences. Later, their writing process focuses on topics in history, literature, geography, and art history. In this way, classical content is layered over strong skills and internalized by our students.

At Calvert, the writing process is modeled. Children begin to write in cursive form as early as age seven. Teachers guide them in correct form. As children progress, they are encouraged to share their written work through oral presentations in which clarity, articulation, projection, presence, and creativity
are stressed.

This step-by-step process helps our students gain a sense of accountability, accomplishment, and pride in their work. They learn to organize tasks, study for tests, and prepare and present small research papers—all skills that aid them in future studies. Students master the basic mathematical skills needed in problem-solving and other applications.

Science, geography, and history stimulate the student interest in their world and heritage. Instruction in music, art, art history, mythology, and foreign languages broadens children's artistic and cultural horizons and encourages creativity. A strong, varied physical education and athletic program provides for physical development and fosters teamwork and good sportsmanship.

Coordinated Instruction
One unique aspect of Calvert School is the grouping of boys and girls for instruction. At the five- and six-year-old levels, boys and girls are taught in coeducational classrooms where they share all activities. Beginning in the Seventh Age, boys and girls have separate homerooms. For work in some subjects, children are placed in small coed groups.

This structure gives Calvert School the advantages of both a single-sex and a coed school. It allows our teachers to accommodate the differing learning styles of boys and girls, while still affording students interactions that are also important to their development.

History
The Calvert Lower School has been a model of excellence for well over a century. The rich history and traditions preserve the trademarks of a skills—based approach to education while recognizing the benefits of innovation. We embrace the best of the new in order to prepare children to tackle the challenges of the world in which we live.

Students in the younger grades in the Lower School are taught using a very traditional primary school approach. There are hands-on activities throughout the day which encourage the students to learn and grow academically, socially, and emotionally. As the students progress past the first few years, the Calvert approach to teaching the fundamental skills—regular formal writing assignments, script handwriting, grammar and spelling as separate classes, and arithmetic emphasizing computational skills—provides the foundation for deeper exploration of content in Middle School and beyond, creating life-long learners and leaders.

Tradition
There are traditions at Calvert that are unique to our school. Our students are greeted every morning with a handshake and a smile from a school administrator. In first grade through the end of the Lower School, students are placed in single-sex homerooms allowing for instruction tailored to age-appropriate differences between boys and girls. Math and reading classes are coeducational, allowing for developmentally-based small groups.