Crellin Elementary School

Schools That Work

Crellin Elementary School

Public, Rural

Grades PK-5

Oakland, MD

Crellin Elementary, a small, rural K-5 school in Oakland, Maryland, takes hands-on, project-based learning to a level that extends far beyond a few one-off projects per year. The school uses the local environment, student inquiry, and the community around them to create learning opportunities with tangible outcomes that inspire students and immerse them in their own learning. These efforts have allowed Crellin Elementary to consistently achieve some of the highest test scores in the state while serving a growing population of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Maryland State Assessment Top-Performing Elementary School
Ernest L. Boyer Best Practices Award for Character Education
2011 Intel School of Distinction Award

Community Partnerships
Learning Partners: Co-Teaching With Community Experts
Inviting community members into the classroom to share their expertise can help bring lessons and learning to life for students.
Service Learning
Real-World Problem Solving: Project-Based Solutions
By using real-world problems as projects for children to solve, Crellin Elementary empowers, engages, and excites students about what they can learn and how they can use that knowledge.
Place-Based Learning
Place-Based Learning: Using Your Location as a Classroom
By taking down the walls of their school and bringing learning into the community around them, Crellin makes education meaningful and magical for their students.
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Aligning the Projects With the Standards
PBL can align with CCSS when teachers, knowing their kids' interests and abilities, let projects evolve to meet student needs as well as the standards.
Dana McCauley
Inquiry-Based Learning
‘I Wonder’ Questions: Harnessing the Power of Inquiry
Teachers can view students’ questions holistically and use them to develop lessons and projects that will harness student curiosity.
Community Partnerships
Using Community Experts to Extend Teaching
Teachers can’t be experts in everything, but they can tap into the knowledge and experience of people in the community.
Service Learning
Empowering Kids to Be Part of the Solution
Giving elementary students a project in their community provides a real-world application for their content learning.
Place-Based Learning
Learning Kids Can Put Their Hands On
Taking kids outside—whatever environment your school is in—provides a new path to engagement in learning.