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Academics

A rigorous education focused on the whole student

The academic program at Clareborne is built around a single question: what does this student need in order to thrive and reach their highest purpose?

Clareborne’s curriculum is college-preparatory across all three divisions. That means that intellectual habits are the core of what we teach. Students in the Lower School learn how to ask a question before they learn to look up an answer. Students in the Middle School learn to disagree with a text before they learn to summarize one. By the time students reach the Upper School, the academic work is designed to challenge them in ways they themselves may not imagine yet for themselves — because the foundation has been built to support it.

Our faculty are both teachers and practitioners. The majority hold advanced degrees and many remain actively engaged in their disciplines outside the classroom. The result is an academic culture where students understand that learning is an ongoing practice.

Lower School

Students leave the Lower School knowing how to read carefully, reason mathematically, and work respectfully alongside others.

Middle School

These are the years when students become ready for discovery — about ideas, about other people, and about themselves.

Upper School

Students have learned to express abstract concepts, revise, and listen — skills they need for advanced academic work in Grades 9-12 through college.

A teacher working one-on-one with a student in an art studio

Academic departments

Clarebourne offers full a academic curriculum in English, mathematics, history and social studies, science, world languages, visual and performing arts, and physical education and wellness. Each department is led by a faculty chair responsible for curriculum continuity across divisions.

English
Mathematics
History and Social Studies
Science

World Languages
Visual and Performing Arts
Physical Education and Wellness

College counseling

Clarebourne’s college counseling program begins with one core question: what kind of life do you want to build, and what kind of education will prepare you for it?

Two people working on an application document together.

pedagogy at Clarebourne

How we teach

Depth over coverage

A Clareborne course does not attempt to cover everything but it trains students to be powerful, confident thinkers. It selects periods and questions with intention, goes deeply into primary sources, and asks students to construct ideas and reconcile multiple perspectives. Students in Clareborne’s history sequence may not memorize every date — but they know how to read a document, support their arguments, and present their research.

Faculty who know their students

An 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio is a structural commitment. It means faculty can track not just academic performance but academic development — the difference between a student who is struggling and a student who is about to break through. The advisory system, active in all three divisions, formalizes what good teaching already requires: knowing the whole student.

Assessment that teaches

Clarebourne faculty are expected to return detailed written feedback on major assessments. A grade tells a student where they are. Feedback tells them how to move. Our faculty is committed to spending additional time to provide students with insights on their own learning.