Berkeley Parents Network: Crowden School

Berkeley Parents Network

Crowden School

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > K-12 Schools > Crowden School

Crowden School website: http://www.thecrowdenschool.org/

Re: Alternative/arts based public school? (Nov 2006)
I would suggest you look into the Crowden School in Berkeley. Music-based. Not sure what grade they begin, but they would surely be a good resource for you in your search. What an inspiring search -- bravo!

September 2005

I would love to hear from parents whose kids are in the Crowden School right now and also from the parents or kids who have graduated from Crowden after the 8th grade. I am really keen to know about the transition experiences from Crowden to High School, the kind of high school typically a Crowden student goes to, the difficulties, if any of moving from an musical environment to a regular High school etc. After being in a school where music is the main focus, how prepared are the students to face math and science etc in High School etc. I have a young child who is very musical , at the same time she is also academically very gifted. While Crowden seems a good idea, I want to be sure she also gets a sound education and not have difficulties transitioning to High School.Any thoughts in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Anon

We have two children currently at Crowden and our oldest is a grad. Crowden is a music school, but the academics are creative and demanding. An interesting group of children decide to attend Crowden and they bring the same enthusiasm to their academics as they bring to their music.

The academic faculty is creative and exciting, with a tremendous love for their field, the school and the students. In the church basement days, the school hired PhD and graduate students to teach in their fields of expertise. More recently, the school continues to hire faculty with PhDs and graduate credentials, but looks also to experience and love of teaching.

So, putting together the self-selecting nature of the students and the strong teaching, Crowden students go on to an impressive collection of high schools. In the competition for limited spaces at many private high schools, the music education (and discipline it implies) is a unique distinguishing factor. Bay Area private high schools know about Crowden. Many grads go to Berkeley High, CPS, Head Royce, International High, Lick, Marin Academy and San Domenico, as well as University High, Athenian, and Maybeck. Our grad is thriving in high school. She does not desire to become a professional musician, but continues to love music and plays in a youth orchestra.

There is nothing else like this school if your child loves music. Come visit, and I hope you love it like we do. Crowden Lifer

April 2005

I have two Crowden kids in my family (one graduate, and one still there), and I couldn't be happier. The school is grades 4-8 and has two hours of music every morning. I found the ''music thing'' really intimidating before I knew much about it, but it's not a school just for violin geniuses. They welcome complete beginners, and are really supportive! The academic program is very strong (and includes French, a LOT of hands on science, math, history, PE, English etc) and commitment of the teachers helped my son go on to high school very well prepared. My younger daughter was bored to tears at her last school, and she's just blossomed in the 4th grade with Ms. Matteson. Crowden has just undergone an extremely positive change of leadership, and I recommend the place highly. I think they accept applications year-round. The phone number is 510-559-6910. The website is www.thecrowdenschool.org.
Proud Parent of Crowden Kids

January 2003

We are thinking about Crowden for our daughter, who loves to sing, and plays two instruments, but is by no means a prodigy. She also loves writing, drawing, science and running and climbing trees. She is perfectly happy at her current school. At the same time, music clearly feeds her in a special way.

I am concerned about whether Crowden's intense focus on music would leave no time for other pursuits, and that its small size might mean that she might not experience a sufficiently wide range of activities and personalities that she might need to expand her horizons in middle school.

I'd love to hear from families who are currently or recently at Crowden. What are the pros and cons? - Intrigued, but Debating...

Crowden emphasizes music over academics. My daughter was a recent student there and ended up playing her instrument 30 hours a week. There were music classes at school such as orchestra, chamber music and bowing instruction. After school she had lessons, coaching sessions and many performances. She also loves science, math and writing and her skills in those areas slid below the norm as there was precious little emphasis on these subjects. The science teacher did not even use a text. The academic classes tend to be undisciplined and even chaotic. (Visit a few and see for yourself.) The art instruction is centered on designing sets for plays and some parents send their kids to outside art teachers to develop their drawing and painting skills. The school is very small and there is essentially no selection of friends. If there are conflicts or gossip, there is no privacy. The children are quite competitive and many are prima donnas. There are pros. Your child will learn how to perform on stage with flair and confidence. Her skills as a musician will improve dramatically.

In response to the question about whether the Crowden School is too narrowly focused on music, I have to say that for my daughter, who was not a prodigy, was slow to learn to read music, and not ferociously committed to a musical career, Crowden was wonderful. She is now a sophomore in high school, so it has been two years since she was there, but our experience was the best of any elementary school either of my kids attended (and there were quite a few). The community is wonderful, the concerts will make you weep, and I think having something like music to wrap yourself around in the middle school years is a brilliant educational move. It sops up some of that middle school hormonal energy that gets played out in unfortunate ways in most other places. The kids at Crowden really become musicians in the best sense of the word. And I will be forever grateful to Crowden for the fact that now my daughter will always have music in her life. She plays in high school and, like her grandmother before her, she will be able to pick up her instrument when she is 60 and play with friends, or go to the symphony with an educated ear. You don't have to want a CAREER in music to go to Crowden. Most kids DON'T go on in music. But it is such a great education for life. They see, very concretely, how practice and hard work get you where you want to go. The kids play a LOT of chamber music and they are constantly mixed up so they get to know kids in the other grades very well so there is a great sense of community. There are some real prodigies there, and everyone knows who they are, but the fact that the kids are constantly mixed up and not fixed in some position permanently with respect to their ability makes for a much nicer environment than most kids involved in classical music experience. Somehow Crowden has gotten this reputation that it is solely for the real prodigy and this just isn't true. Kids have to have a basic aptitude for music, and some musicality, but they don't even have to have played an instrument when they start in fourth grade. They get incredible instruction. The school has it's quirks and foibles like any small private school, but I wish I had another kid so I could send her to Crowden and we could have another five years there! I'd be happy to reply to any other questions about Crowden. Vickie

My son is a 5th grader currently enrolled in Crowden. He is not a prodigy nor are most of the kids attending Crowden. The curriculum at Crowden focuses 2 hours in the morning on musical pursuits and the rest of the day on core subjects. It is a very fun and normal bunch of kids. It has a big family atmosphere there and I urge you to bring your child in for a look. My son visited for 1/2 a day when we were in the process of checking it out and was taken up under the wings of the then 4th graders. The staff and faculty are top notch and most everyone starts on the same level of musical prowess. Some only beginning their instrument studies the summer before they enter. My son is very happy there. Call Marcia King at: 510-559-6910 to arrange a time to come in and look around. And put this date on your calendar-Feb.27th. The upper school will be doing an Opera written and preformed by the students called Cerberus. Deborah

One year ago, I was the person checking out Crowden for my daughter on this same site. She is now a fourth grader at the school and we have been very pleased with the transition. Before, she went to a top Catholic School and did quite well. I knew the music would be superior but I have been very pleased with the academics as well. They now use Singapore Math and she is about a grade ahead of her old school. The science in fourth grade, four hours per week, is better than what my son had in middle school. Even though there is no science text, the teacher uses unit packets. Last week they built their own radios. This month they are going to do some dissecting. The english and social studies are taught with a different approach then I am used to. Instead of spitting back facts on tests, they have to analyze the passages and write their interpretation of what is happening. The new art teacher is phenominal, they have been learning to draw from perspective and have sketching homework. She is an experienced artist and has a great curriculumn which develops across the grades. PE is also four hours a week-intense soccer and tennis so far- from a high school soccer coach. French is also four hours a week. My daughter is not a prodigy and probably will end up a scientist like her parents. We consider the music an extra which will round out her busy life of girl scouts, dancing, and soccer. She loves the small classes where ''you can actually get called on every time.'' Minuses could include being too small for friends but the dean of students has been receptive to any problems and they do mix the kids up in music groups so they are exposed to others. We wish we knew about the school for our high schooler. Another potential minus is that it is A LOT OF MUSIC for some kids and they have to enjoy it. So far my daughter has thrived there. I also sat in on the upper grade english and math classes when I was looking since I knew the curriculumn at all the private schools in the area. I found the work covered by the English teacher to be high school level with a relaxed but business approach. I urge you to check out the upper grades and also see where the kids end up in high school-the top schools in the Bay Area. I hope they can keep the new math and art teachers for years to come. Greg-proud father of a Crowden Student

I am in fifth grade at the Crowden School and I love it! The School is pretty small( about 80 kids) so I know everyone and am friendly with most of them. Crowden helped me get over stage fright and now I am also less shy.I love the academics, especially history and science. In History we do reports on people who are interesting( I'm doing a report on Thomas Paine right now) and also in-class writing.In Science, it's true we don't use textbooks, but we do more hands on things, like experiments (testing the pH of lemons and limes- which is more acidic?) and projects( we all brought in samples of grass and designed a poster using a computer and a microscope). And sometimes we use worksheets.In music, I have fun too. We do orchestra, chamber music, boeing class,etc. and it's lots of fun. And my classmates and I are not geniuses or anything. We just like music. And I know some people just came for the academics, and just started an instrument. Of course, no school's perfect, and neither is Crowden.For instance my classes can get chaotic once in a while but they're not ALL the time. Plus, at Crowden, since there are such small classes, we get more attention from the teachers, so we learn a lot more. And also, since there are only 13 kids in the class, I get to know people that ordinarily I would never know, and learn their good side. If you are thinking about sending your kid to Crowden, PLEASE do, so your kid will have the same wonderful experience that I'm having.:) - A fifth grade girl

March 2002

I would like to reply to the posting about the academic program at the Crowden School. I am a father of a fourth grader (so this is her first year at Crowden). Previously, she went to Kensington Hilltop. She has played the violin since she was six, but that is not the reason we are sending her to Crowden.

Since I am not a musician myself, I was skeptical about sending her to a music-oriented school. I changed my mind when I went to an open house and spoke to parents who had no thought of encouraging their children to become professional musicians. I was extremely impressed by the upper and lower school English teacher (the upper school English teacher has just been appointed academic director). They were assigning books and assignments that were extremely challenging and which require students to write and think at a level much higher than those of the public school (or of many private schools we had considered).

In the year that our daughter has attended Crowden, I have been struck by the way in which she is excited by academic topics for the first time. The history, English, math and science assignments encourage creative thinking as well as mastery of the particular subjects. Because the classes are small, the teachers devote a great deal of time to the needs and interests of particular students. For the first time, we do not see a need to supplement our daughter's academic curriculum. We had no experience with the previous (founding) administration, but my general impression, gained through conversation with former students and parents, is that the current administration and faculty are less rigid, more inclined to take individual needs into consideration. It also seems that the musical program has become less competitive, more attuned towards cultivating an appreciation for music (performance, theory, history) than towards developing professional musicians. In both music and academics, the students seem tremendously supportive of one another.

I am aware that some parents have found the academic program too demanding. It is true that expectations are high, yet our daughter has found the relative informality stimulating, and we have appreciated the benefits that come from allowing teachers great freedom in the crafting of their own curriculum. The boundaries of ''age-appropriate'' curriculum are quite wide, and the championing of state-guidelines is often part of a reluctance to encourage motivated (or potentially motivated) students to work up to their potential.

In short, our first year's experience with the academic program at Crowden has been entirely positive. If I were going back to middle school, this is the sort of place I would want to go. Eric

There was discussion some weeks ago about the Crowden School. One or two positive messages were sent, but there is a different side to the school that prospective parents should know about.

The school specializes in musical training, especially stringed instruments. In this, they excel. The teachers are professionals and the students learn to become good musicians. Students play their instruments for three to four hours a day if you include practice, school instruction, coaching, and private lessons. Students graduate skilled, poised, and confident. They learn to perform on stage, a valuable skill that transfers to other professions.

The academic program is controversial. The school advertises that it adheres to the state curriculum guidelines, but it does not. Some teachers refuse to use a textbook; others cover only a fraction of a recommended text. When it was a tiny school in the basement of a church, it succeeded with a few excellent teachers in traditional subjects, but those teachers left. There has been a rapid turnover since. The outstanding founder of the school retired as musical director, and the academic director became disillusioned and took early retirement. Their replacements do not appear to be of the same caliber. The school may be right for your child, but you should look it over carefully and talk to a range of parents. Visit the school and observe the academic classes. The school defends the disorder in these classes as ''good for the creative mind''. This is a point of debate each parent should consider. Anonymous

2001

Re: Violin Lessons
The Crowden School offers instruction in violin. I believe, however, that in order to be enrolled in their courses you must also have a private teacher. Some information is available at: http://thecrowdenschool.org/comm_mus_center.htm

From: Paul

I suggest you contact the Crowden School for various names. We tried our then almost 5 year old on violin with Erika Miranda who teaches at Crowden. The violin didn't take and now my son is happily studying piano, but Erika seemed patient, kind and thoughtful.

Nov 2001

Our daughter just started at The Crowden School this year in 4th grade and loves it. The classes are challenging, but the homework so far seems to be minimal (there is certainly some homework, but she does some of it at school, and the rest strikes me as meaningful ("work on your story about the Pilgrims") rather than busywork). My sense is that they do understand these kids have less time for homework because of their instruments. In the upper grades, I suspect the homework load is greater, though. Our daughter came to TCS from a good public elementary school, but the difference is like night and day. Here she has science almost every day, not just once a week, not to mention French, music history, music theory, and Chorus. The P.E. teacher is absolutely terrific, too, by the way. I had felt a little guilty about taking her away from her friends in public school, but her 4th grade class is a wonderful, friendly group of kids, and the students in the upper grades have really taken the new children under their wings. The 4th and 5th graders do many things together (music classes are mixed, for instance), so really the social scene doesn't feel thin at all. Our daughter had been reluctant to switch schools (though very polite about it -- she never said "NO" but did worry about leaving her friends), but on the second day of Crowden she said "I have to admit it, Crowden's a lot better than my old school," and we've never looked back. Good luck with your school search!

Crowden School: We have three girls who attended Crowden, one began at 5th grade, 2 at 6th. They all attended public school before Crowden and two have gone on to private high school. One is in 8th grade. There were less than 40 in school when my oldest began in '92 . In '97(?) the school moved to present location and doubled in size. They have had some growing pains after such a change but a are dealing with them head on.

Home work was surely diffierent (more) for my girls . The prospectus reads one hour a night, but they have all taken more time. I think in general, middle school homework load is greater any way. They have been well prepared for high school, confident with good skills and study habits.

Crowden graduates go on to public high schools and thrive. It is a very small community and I do not know of one child who has experienced difficulty making the transition. In fact all I know were leaders in high school are going to top rank colleges. Friends are made across grade levels and older chilren are generally protective of younger. Friendships are strong and those made at Crowden are still most important to my girls.

When you make music with someone everyday for 4 -6 years you develop a strong accepting relationship. Please email me privately for more information or a chat. I know Crowden is not for everyone but it is a miracle for many. Chidren there are lively, curious and passionate about many things, one of which is music. deborahbonet@hotmail.com Deborah

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