Severn School | Severn Education Series

The Severn Way

At Severn, our values are our compass. Our teachers model the curiosity, respect and intellectual agility that we are instilling in every student - including the idea that it's cool to be smart. We aren't just meeting requirements, we're building community and redefining leadership. Come experience Severn for yourself!

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Donations are what make it possible to provide the innovative, inclusive, and forward-thinking education that defines the Severn experience. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our alums, parents, and friends, every Admiral has the opportunity to discover what matters and reach their full potential.

The Crisis of Comparison Culture

Striving for perfection is a risky and fruitless pursuit for teens — “perfect” will always be out of reach. Generally, adolescents develop perfectionist tendencies when they feel insecure and seek to deflect that insecurity by presenting to others as flawless. There is little debate that this push and pull can take a considerable emotional toll on any individual. As students emphasize surface achievements such as high grades or college admissions and increasingly compare themselves to others, both perfectionism and anxiety are on the rise.
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A Middle School Transition by Design

Imagine what it is like to be an 11-year-old student, fresh from elementary school, joining a campus of 6th-12th graders. This transition is a time of accelerated cognitive, physical, social and emotional growth. How can a young person successfully manage those changes as they develop their identity?
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Our Responsibility to Meet the Needs of Every Student

Learning resource teachers are committed to making sure every student succeeds regardless of how they learn or what obstacles they face. We are advocates for our students, placing their needs at the center of every decision we make, every lesson we plan and every assignment we give. As pedagogy evolves and diagnoses of anxiety and attention-related health issues increase, teachers must continually ask themselves, “Is this what is best for my students?” Or, more importantly, “Is this what is best for all of my students?”
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Learner-First Assessment

There is an interesting dichotomy in modern schooling: do we assess to evaluate student learning at the end of instruction (summative)? Or do we assess to inform students and teachers throughout the process of teaching and learning (formative)? Both sides of the educational divide have strong reasons why one form of evaluation should be employed more than the other. But how can we best serve middle school students?
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Design Thinking and Human-Centered Innovation

“Design Thinking” is one of the latest buzzwords in education and business today, but what is it and why the hype? The term was coined as early as the 1960s but has recently been popularized by the Kelley Brothers and Tim Brown’s design firm, IDEO. Their firm focuses on creating change through design to make a positive global impact. This spawned the Stanford d.school design thinking process and courses for educators and students.
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The Value of "I Played" and the Importance of Early Childhood Education

As parents pick up their preschool or prekindergarten children from school, they often ask the question, “What did you do today?” The most beautiful answer a child may give is, “I played!” Although this response may sound simple, it represents an entire spectrum of skill development. During the early childhood years, defined as birth to age eight by the NAEYC, a child’s brain develops faster than any other point in their lives. They develop cognitive skills, foundational social skills, a sense of self-esteem, awareness of the world and an early moral framework.
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Best Practices for a Middle School Education

The Middle School experience is the bridge between Lower and Upper School student success—an intense three years to foster young adolescents’ intellectual, physical, social and emotional well-being. As a result, Middle School educators need to navigate a complex terrain to support students from their Lower School years as well as prepare them for the rigors of Upper School.
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Transitioning to High School: Do!

How can I get the most out of school? How can I grow as a student and as a person? How and what can I contribute to make my school a true community? What are the most intriguing things going on my community? What are the problems facing my school, my community, my country, the world? What are the problems I am most interested in solving? How can I help?
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Known and Valued

Having spent my full professional life working with early adolescents as a teacher, coach, and administrator, I often consider this question. In my view, what separates a great middle school from a good one is a palpable culture, a place where students feel connected, where their teachers care about them personally. Such a school tone is tough to measure, but it is the “family-feel” in a middle school that parents should want above all else.
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The Maker Mindset

Children have always reveled in tinkering… taking things apart, putting things together, and exploring small and large toys, objects, and earth’s surroundings. This combination of play, joy, and discovery cultivates imagination and creativity. Tinkering is a big part of the Maker Movement. The Maker what? What is this and why is it important to children’s lives, education, and overall being?
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