Opinion: Why “Crew” should be expanded in NYC schools

When we proudly talk about making “Crew” available in a growing number of New York City public schools, we often have to clarify that we’re not referring to the sport of rowing, but rather to an extraordinarily innovative and effective student support initiative introduced by NYC Outward Bound Schools and expanded through the leadership of the New York City Council. 

The term “Crew”  – as it applies to schools – originally derives from Outward Bound wilderness courses where participants are organized into small groups, or Crews, with each Crew member given responsibility for looking after and taking care of one another. Over the past three decades, NYC Outward Bound Schools and the national nonprofit EL Education have successfully transplanted this Crew structure from the wilderness into schools, making it an integral feature of students’ daily school experiences that serves as a source of strength, resilience and community for them. Through Crew, small groups of students from the same grade – typically 10 to 15 –  meet together in an environment of trust and mutual respect to address various school-related and personal issues, engage in community-building and other shared activities, and check in on their academic progress. Each group is assigned an adult, typically a teacher, to be the Crew advisor, helping guide the Crew’s conversations and activities.

We’ve both seen abundant evidence that the payoffs accruing to schools that have introduced Crew are manifold. We’ve witnessed how Crew provides an antidote to the burgeoning adolescent mental health crisis our city and country are experiencing, serving as a bulwark against the rising tide of depression, social isolation and disconnection buffeting our young people. We’ve heard students routinely refer to Crew as their second family  – a safe, nurturing space where everyone has a voice and feels free to be themselves. They talk about how Crew fosters a sense of belonging, helping them to feel welcomed, valued and heard. And at a time when there is an alarming increase in chronic absenteeism, a four-year independent research study showed a statistically significant difference in absentee rates between schools in the study that had implemented Crew and those that had not.  

Our experience with Crew points to two main factors, both incorporating fundamental youth development precepts, that account for Crew’s success. First, it draws upon the importance young people attach to peer relationships. By centering it around activities that require students to rely upon and support each other, Crew turns the concept of negative peer pressure on its head, channeling the power that peers have to influence one another and converting it into pro-social behaviors like empathy and kindness. The mantra is “we are Crew, not passengers” and everyone has a shared stake in each other’s success. And this emphasis on interdependence, collaboration and community is proving to be particularly valuable post-pandemic, as young people struggle to regain their connections with one another.

The second key to Crew’s success is that it helps ensure every student has at least one adult who is readily available to them to provide support, advice and guidance. It thus becomes a critical mechanism for preventing students from falling through the cracks. Deep relationships develop between the Crew and their advisor, who serves as a mentor, advocate and confidant. The advisor knows each member of their Crew well, developing a finely tuned sense of their strengths and areas for growth along with strategies for helping them navigate whatever challenges they encounter. Importantly, the Crew advisor also develops relationships with Crew members’ parents and/or other family members, helping to give them a fuller, more nuanced picture of their child’s school experiences. 

Recognizing the key role Crew can play in fostering school and student success, the New York City Council has taken the lead and partnered with the city’s Department of Education to fund an initiative aimed at bringing Crew to more of the city’s schools. Now starting its fourth year, this initiative is making it possible for roughly 75 New York City public schools to receive the coaching and other supports they need to implement Crew. This is a promising beginning, but there are many, many more schools that are well-positioned to adopt it, with some additional resources available to them.

To make this expansion possible, additional funding will need to be provided by the DOE. Unfortunately, not only has additional Crew funding not been put on the table by the Department this year, but Mayor Eric Adams’ recently released Preliminary Budget did not even include the $1.6 million needed to simply maintain Crew programming at the existing 75 schools already thriving with it.

The bottom line is that every school that wants to implement Crew should be given the opportunity and support to do so. To be sure, not every school will want to or be ready to do that. Schools that are serious about implementing Crew will need to commit to making the time and space available to allow Crews to meet during the school day, to supporting teachers in taking on the additional responsibilities associated with being a Crew Advisor, and most of all, to fully embracing the “Crew, not passengers” ethos that animates it.

Those schools will discover what we have seen firsthand time and again and that more and more schools are themselves learning through their own experiences with Crew  – that it is a powerful driver of student well-being and a highly effective vehicle for promoting the kinds of supportive, caring and trusting environments our young people need to learn and thrive.