In 2022, the newest Gurian Institute (GI) Center for Educational Excellence was born at Crespi Carmelite High School (Crespi) in Encino, California.  Serving the whole Los Angeles area, as well as students from overseas, Crespi embodies generations of educational excellence.  It became the Gurian Institute’s first Model School in 2005.  It is now a Gurian Institute Center for Educational Excellence.

As part of becoming a Center, Crespi asked GI to study its holistic approach to raising and educating boys.  The Gurian study of the school is complete.  Its results can be found in the Independent Study featured in today’s blog post.

About GI, Dr. Kenneth Foersch, President of Crespi has said,“The science behind the strategies and techniques that Dr. Michael Gurian has studied over the past 30+ of years has been interwoven into the Crespi experience.  A Crespi Man is a lifelong learner, and the Gurian Institute Center for Educational Excellence allows all faculty, staff, and administration to engage in the practice of creating and sharing knowledge about the value of developmental neuroscience in how we educate and learn. Our collaboration with Dr. Gurian and ongoing professional development enables us to stay at the cutting edge of single-gender, all-boy education.”

Rob Kodama, Director of Admissions, notes: “We have embraced the Gurian Institute and it has enhanced our school in numerous ways.  As the Director of Admissions, Marketing, and Public Relations, I can report that The Gurian Institute team has helped us rise above our competing schools. We have come to the forefront of educating boys in the Los Angeles area.”

Over most of this school year, Michael Gurian, Dr. Glynetta Fletcher, and Eva Dwight, M.Ed. have been at the school for observations and training, interviewed students, alum, administrators, teachers, and parents, and looked at existing data to measure Crespi success with boys.  The White Paper with results is here: https://gurianinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/crespiwhitepaperdraft.3.24.23.pdf.   In reading it, we think you’ll see just how thoroughly Crespi models a holistic approach to boys’ development.  If you have boys anywhere near the LA area, Crespi might be a the right high school for them.

In leading the study and writing the White Paper, Dr. Gurian reports:  “I went into the study of Crespi expecting to find major glitches in process and practice:  I enter any independent study of a school with this expectation.  But having now concluded the GI study, I find Crespi to surpass expectations.   The school’s approach to raising and educating boys is as much a social-emotional vision as an academic pedagogy.  It is an educational system that nurtures the whole boy.  The fact that many Crespi men go to the nation’s top colleges is a plus, certainly; equally important, wherever the young men end up, they have gained from a high school education the sense of purpose they will need throughout life.”

Crespi staff members and GI Certified Trainers Rob Kodama, Dr. Alan Swaney, and Daniel Parlato will be speaking at this year’s GI Summer Training Institute.   You can get to know them, their workshops, and our event here:  https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2023/.   To register, click the button on the page or for groups of five or more, email Gail at info@gurianinstitute.com.

Bravo to Crespi for innovating on behalf of boys.  To learn more about Crespi, click www.crespi.org, or write Rob Kodama at rkodama@crespi.org.