Academics
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The Country Day Difference
Country Day students are empowered to explore – and these walkways can lead anywhere.
We’re a school known for academic challenge, where innovative, hands-on learning offers students new ways to explore their intellectual passions and develop as independent thinkers. Yet academics at Country Day is about so much more than curricula.
Here, rigor is characterized by the pursuit of ideas, curiosity is at our core, and “I’m not creative” is not part of our vocabulary.
Learning at Country Day means being surrounded by tradition, yet filled with vibrant energy and excitement. Students work side-by-side, engaged and entrenched in academic exploration while also learning about themselves, their interests, and the kind of people they want to be.
With faculty fiercely committed to guiding young minds and developing intellectual fortitude, Country Day students learn to think critically, build strength of character, and become engaged citizens who recognize they have something new and original to offer the world.
The Country Day experience merges academic excellence with an intentionally close-knit community – because challenge without community lacks purpose, and community without challenge lacks impact. Country day parent Class of 2024
Meet Your Future Favorite Teacher
Everyone has THAT teacher who stands out in memory. Someone who made a lasting impact, who saw your true self, who believed in your potential. At Country Day, we have an entire team of them.
Our faculty share an excitement for learning and life that lifts up our students, challenges them to achieve, and supports all their endeavors. Most faculty hold advanced degrees, several are alumni of the school, and all are engaged and important members of our community.
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Students learn how to think, not simply what to think.
We encourage students to reveal and challenge assumptions and to analyze complex problems to develop their own informed opinions. With support and guidance, we encourage students to evaluate structures and theories under the lens of “how” as much as the filter of “why.” Here, each subject, classroom, and grade level cultivates every student’s individuality, and it’s all designed to teach students to engage and think critically and to communicate with clarity and respect.
Academics: Students Learn How to Think
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8th-Grade Capstone Project
8th graders participate in a Capstone project during the spring semester. The Capstone is an interdisciplinary, problem-based project that allows students to explore, research, and present on topics of interest. This project is either Humanities- or STEM-based.
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New Orleans Scholars Program
A focus on the humanities is not only essential to a well-rounded education, but imperative. Our New Orleans Scholars Program leverages the city of New Orleans as a classroom, immersing students in the city and region and allowing them to learn about the world through the lens of New Orleans. Students are exposed to a mix of in-classroom discussions, guest speakers, fieldwork, and research outings, all culminating in an end-of-year capstone paper and presentation.
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Department of Applied Technology
We offer 2500 square feet of creative space dedicated to making computational thinking accessible through computer science education for students of all ages. Our focus is on using technology to enhance problem-solving skills, creativity, and a multifaceted understanding of the world. Students might be found exploring Ottoman Empire architecture via 3D printing, creating freeform shapes with a laser cutter, or brainstorming mathematical concepts on a large whiteboard.
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Explorations
Students thrive when they choose topics that genuinely interest them, taking ownership of their learning journey. Before diving into a year-long exploration that includes research, backward design planning, and collaboration, they select a topic, whether it's the global impact of soccer, the importance of collaboration in animal care, or the skills needed for podcast production. With Lower School Explorations, students decide what they learn, with example classes like Chain Reactions, History, Cooking, LEGO, Podcast Making, Dance, and Fashion.
Designed for How Students Learn Best,
at Every Stage
From blossoming into learners in Country Day's Early Childhood Center, to establishing a strong academic foundation in Lower School, to developing as students in Middle School, to preparing to enter the bigger world that awaits in Upper School, Country Day’s curriculum creates lifelong learners, readers, writers, thinkers, explorers, adventurers, problem-solvers, troubleshooters – and conscientious world citizens.