Built on Science. Built for These Students.
Most schools that serve students with ADHD were built on good intentions. The Craig School was built on three decades of published research conducted inside real classrooms at UC Irvine. That difference matters. It means the structure of our school day, the way teachers deliver instruction, the behavioral support model, and the way we measure what's working were not invented from scratch. They were developed, tested, refined, and proven over 35 years before a single student walked through our doors.
That is the foundation TCS stands on.
Origins at UC Irvine
The foundation of The Craig School is the Child Development Center at the University of California, Irvine — one of the country's most respected research programs for children with ADHD.
For more than three decades, researchers and clinicians at UCI studied exactly what students with ADHD need in real academic environments. Not in therapy offices or controlled lab settings, but in real classrooms, with real teachers, real peers, and real school-day demands. That research led to an evidence base that is rare in K-12 education.
Transition to the Community
The UCI program was built as a research model. For families who experienced it, it was also a lifeline — often the first environment where their children felt genuinely supported and successful. When the university program closed in 2019, a group of those families came together with one goal: make sure future students have access to the same research-informed approach. They founded what is now The Craig School as an independent nonprofit, bringing the UCI model into a full-day academic environment that could serve students long-term.
Same science. New home.
| A legacy of research.
| A commitment to structure.
| A school built for how children learn.
From The Children’s School to The Craig School
As the program continued to grow and the middle school became a central part of the academic experience, the school’s name was updated to reflect its expanded scope and long-term vision.
The Children’s School became The Craig School.
The name change reflected growth, not a shift in mission. The academic and behavioral framework remained grounded in the same principles established through decades of research and clinical practice at UC Irvine.
The Craig School name reflects what the program had become: a full academic school, a long-term educational home, and a community intentionally designed for how students learn, regulate, and grow.
Leadership and Scientific Guidance
The development of the school has been guided by nationally recognized experts in child development, education, pediatrics, and behavioral health.
Our Scientific Advisory Board includes scholars and practitioners from institutions such as UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, Chapman University, and UC Riverside. This collaboration ensures the school’s design reflects both research integrity and real-world classroom application.
Ongoing Connection to Research
Dr. Sabrina Schuck is the Executive Director of The Craig School and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UC Irvine. She has spent more than 30 years studying how children with ADHD learn, regulate, and grow in school environments. Her work at UCI — including NIH-funded research on attention, self-regulation, and novel interventions — directly informs how TCS operates every day.
Dr. Schuck is not an advisor at a distance. She is present in the school, working alongside staff, guiding the Science of Learning Lab, and continuously strengthening the program she helped build. Her presence is part of what makes TCS different from every other school in Southern California.
A Living Legacy
The Craig School represents the continuation of decades of work dedicated to understanding how students with ADHD learn best in school settings.
While the school now operates independently, its foundation remains rooted in research, structure, and respect for each student’s development.
That history informs how students are supported today and guides how the school continues to evolve.