Embedded Files
At the Upper School, learning springs from inquiry, the pursuit and application of deep content knowledge, and the challenge of analyzing and solving complex problems with real-world impact. Our program cultivates learning and achievement in a community that fosters joy, personal connection, inclusivity, and the genuine belief that each student has a unique and valuable perspective to offer.
The Upper School program builds character and skills in pursuit of independence, purpose, and excellence. Our 1:6 faculty/student ratio, our commitment to transformative teaching, and our research-driven curriculum foster powerful and collaborative student-faculty relationships grounded in mutual respect and trust. This culture is the foundation for educational achievement: students at GCDS realize they have power to effect change, to take responsibility for their own learning, and to develop an enduring sense of belonging and ownership in their community.
To cultivate and support the goals and interests of each student, the Upper School offers a dynamic, rigorous, and expansive curriculum. Our program challenges students to build the foundational knowledge and skills across the STEM and Humanities fields required for admission to the nation’s leading colleges and universities. In addition, our interdisciplinary program leverages the strengths of a variety of instructional approaches. At GCDS, our faculty blends traditional and innovative methods, resulting in a personalized learning experience. Through projects, our curriculum engages students in producing meaningful work as they develop a global perspective and acquire and apply their skills and knowledge to research, analyze, and solve complex problems.
Questions about the Upper School Academic Program?
Dr. Andrew Ruoss, Academic Dean
P: 203-542-0033
Ninth & Tenth Grade: Foundational Skill Building
Ninth & Tenth Grade: Foundational Skill Building
In the 9th and 10th Grade years, students enroll in full-year academic courses in English, History/Social Science, Mathematics, Science, World Languages, and Seminar. These rigorous and inventive courses prepare students for the challenge of the Junior Thesis, as well as 11th and 12th Grade elective options across the curriculum. During these first two years, English and History courses are also paired in a team taught interdisciplinary humanities program--Global Studies in the 9th Grade and American Studies in the 10th Grade--that solidifies the core skills of writing, research, analysis, and communication. Most core courses are available in an Honors option for students who are ready to engage with the material or discipline at a deeper level of challenge. Students can also enroll in a wide range of elective courses in the Arts, Creative Applied Technologies, Sustainability, and more!
In addition to a curriculum that honors tradition and established forms of teaching, our foundational curriculum includes a concurrent innovative project-based approach. This facilitates students’ development of capacities in project management, complex research, problem identification, and information synthesis. Students apply their skills and knowledge to interdisciplinary challenges and "learn how they learn" in the process. The 9th and 10th grade faculty teams work across disciplines to coordinate these unique grade-level programs.
Questions about the 9th or 10th Grade Interdisciplinary Programs?
Devika Bodas, 9th Grade Interdisciplinary Program Co-Coordinator, Science Faculty
Annie Ogden, 10th Grade Interdisciplinary Program Coordinator, History Program Faculty
Lizzy Giffen, 9th Grade Interdisciplinary Program Co-Coordinator, English Faculty
Eleventh & Twelfth Grade: Research & Application
Eleventh & Twelfth Grade: Research & Application
Eleventh and Twelfth Grade students build upon their foundational skills and knowledge to pursue a wide range of courses designed to mirror the challenge, responsibility, and depth of college-level seminar and research courses. These advanced courses in STEM, social science, and the humanities fields join with our signature academic programs to offer our students opportunities for advanced research and study in fields of interest.
Specialized Diploma Programs in World Languages, Classics, Sustainability, Engineering, and the Visual and Performing Arts, as well as our Advanced Study Programs in all core fields, support students in their pursuit of deep and accelerated learning across all subject areas.
All juniors complete a Junior Thesis, offering students the opportunity to pursue original research in a chosen field, guided by a thesis advisor.
Through the Senior Internship program, our students build on the foundational skills developed in 9th and 10th Grade and honed in the Junior Thesis guided research process. This year-long program serves as a capstone, real-world, immersive experience in which students apply their learning in project design, interdisciplinary thinking, and teamwork to a problem faced by an organization in the field of their choice.
In addition to core courses and Seminar, students may choose to enroll in elective courses selected from a wide range of offerings in visual arts, performing arts, computer science and engineering, and more. While some electives are full-year courses, others are semester-long, allowing students to tailor the experience to their individual interests and curiosities.
GCDS does not offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses by design. Instead, we offer an Honors option for most of our core courses, as well as "Advanced" designations for our highest level courses across disciplines. Our Honors courses are designed to meet or exceed the rigor of AP, and students may elect to take AP exams independently.
The Upper School: How we Teach and Learn
The Upper School: How we Teach and Learn
The Upper School Academic Program guides students to build core knowledge and skills and challenges students to apply what they learn to solve complex problems. A student can study Algebra II and take a test (and ours do), but asking students to then apply their knowledge and skills to a real-world problem requires a higher level of thinking and results in more durable learning. This approach allows our faculty to address each of our students personally as a learner, while challenging them beyond the traditional bounds of education and preparing them for college and university curricula, which have rapidly shifted to project and research-driven programs.
In addition to this individualized focus, our program also offers students experience in collaborative learning and problem solving. Collaboration is not just a buzz word for us: it's a skillset. Our teachers work with students to understand how they learn and where they instinctively start in the problem-solving process. Then, as they work through different team-based projects, students gradually gain the ability to recognize the different learning reflexes of their peers, and they develop the ability to work successfully in any environment.
In 9th and 10th grade, this starts with our teaching teams pairing essential discipline-specific curricula and assessment (Biology labs, English papers, Math exams) with interdisciplinary projects that require students to apply their skills and knowledge from several disciplines to design a solution for a real-world challenge.
For example, in a recent end-of-semester project, our 9th grade faculty challenged their students to simulate a UN summit on the Syrian refugee crisis. In order to accomplish this, students:
Applied their knowledge of empires, colonialism, and cultural definition from Global History
Framed their thinking with learning about cells, disease, and the environment from Biology
Generated solutions through their abilities to manipulate statistics and maximize area from Geometry
Channeled this learning through the cogent forms of writing practiced in English
Mastered the constraints of their particular role within an institution, while developing an understanding of how their peers across the table thought differently about the same core issues.
Our 9th and 10th grade courses prepare students to take over this process in their Junior and Senior years, as they frame their Junior Thesis research and engage our Advanced Studies curriculum. Having mastered their own approach to research and collaboration, Seniors apply their learning to the challenges facing a professional organization during the year-long Senior Internship program.
Graduation Requirements
Graduation Requirements
Our Graduation Requirements are designed to ensure maximum flexibility for our students, encouraging their greatest ambition in the pursuit of their learning. These requirements serve as broad guardrails and do not represent the total academic experience of any of our students. For example, more than 90% of our students pursue 4 years of one or more world languages. All students must be enrolled in at least 7 courses each semester.
Humanities (English, History/Social Science): 7 credits (Required 4 years of English and at least 3 years of Social Science)
STEM (Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Math): 6 credits with a minimal completion of Algebra II in Math (Recommended at least 3 years of Math and Science, including Biology, Chemistry, and Physics)
Seminar: 4 credits
World Language: 2 credits (years), achieving at least Level III in a language sequence
Arts (visual, performing and design): 1 credit
Team & Fitness: 2 seasons team and 2 seasons fitness per year***
Intersession Experience: 4 years (passing grade)
Junior Thesis: (passing grade)
Presentation of Learning: 4 years (passing grade)
*A full-year course earns one credit, a semester course earns ½ credit.
**In the case of a cross-listed course, a student may count the course only once toward their graduation requirements.
***Every student is required to participate in two (2) team activities and two (2) fitness activities annually. Participation on a sports team, whether interscholastic or club, will count for one team activity and one fitness activity. Other examples of team activities can be co-curricular clubs (robotics team, Model UN, debate club, etc) and performing arts options (fall musical, jazz band, acapella groups, etc). Obtaining a fitness requirement, other than participating in interscholastic and intramural teams, could include partaking in a school offered fitness program (strength and conditioning, spin class, yoga, etc ) for 90 minutes a week through the fall or spring term.
Page updated
Report abuse