Brookfield School

 Public Versus Private Education

First Steps to Private Education at Brookfield School

Children completing private school through the 8^th grade double their chance to graduate from college. Capenet.org

Public School Requirements

·     Public kindergarten requires children to be age 5 by September 30.

·         Public first graders who have not attended a licensed kindergarten program must undergo an assessment by the district to determine if they are developmentally prepared for the first grade. If children don’t pass, they must attend an approved kindergarten for the year

·         Public kindergarten runs 5 half-days.  (This may be as little as 12  hours a week.)

Public First Grade Entrance Test Includes:

·         Public first graders must be 6 by September 30.

·         To repeat his or her name, age, address and birthday; 

·         Names colors;

·         Names simple objects;

·         Copies shapes;

·         Counts to 30;

·         Recites the alphabet;

·         Writes and knows numbers;

·         Names lower-case letters of the alphabet; hears and recognizes sounds in words;

·         Draws a person;

·         Write their name;

Private School:

Brookfield’s 3 yr. old goals:

·         To repeat his or her name, age, address and birthday; 

·         Name colors;

·         Names simple objects;

·         Copies and names shapes;

·         Counts;

·         Recites the alphabet

Brookfield’s 4yr. old goals:

·         Recites the alphabet

·         Writes and knows numbers;

·         Names lower-case letters of the alphabet; hear and recognize sounds in words;

·         Draws a person;

·         Writes their name;

·         Identifies the sounds of most of the letters of the alphabet.

Brookfield’s Kindergarten (Pre-First) offers a complete “first grade curriculum.” Classroom Hours = 26 hrs / week

·         Reading and Math scores are at a beginning 2^nd Grade level (Many read higher).

·         Test results are in the top 10-15% in the Country for basic battery of skills (See Brookfield website for annual test scores).

·         Private kindergarten has developmental requirements.  Some children are ready and their birthday may fall later in the fall.

·         Lower student-teacher ratios aid children in their stimulation and development.

·         Private school students may continue to first grade beginning a second grade curriculum.

·         Brookfield uses certified classroom teachers (K-8), while other private schools may not (i.e. parochial).

             The Importance of Early Educational Experiences and Brain Development Due to recent technological advances which have improved the ability of neuroscientists to study human brain functioning, a growing body of knowledge that has significant implications for parents and educators has emerged. Brookfield feels that our lively curriculum supports the findings from this research, and your child’s early educational experiences.

             A child’s brain is not mature at birth. In the first three years of life, the number of synaptic connections in a young child’s brain actually doubles to approximately 1,000 trillion, many more than will ultimately be present in the adult brain.  These “extra” synaptic connections provide an important clue to how the brain is shaped by experience. A child’s brain is changed by experience.  While genes program certain types of nerve cell connections, experience also programs and reprograms these connections.  For example, brain centers that control breathing and heart rate are relatively hardwired at birth, whereas higher cortical functions that have to do with learning and memory are sculpted and modified by experience.

             This new research yields a picture of the brain as a plastic and self-organizing organ in which the development and maintenance of nerve connections are based on experiential demands and are not strictly predetermined.

             Beginning at age 3 and continuing over the next decade or more, synapses are selectively eliminated; by age 15, the number of synapses has decreased by about half and remains relatively stable throughout the rest of the individual’s life.  How important are these years in educational terms?  Educational experiences stimulate Synaptic connections. Those that are not encouraged are eliminated. 

         The timing of experiences can be important.  Experiences occurring between the ages of 3 and 15 are critical to synaptogenesis. Research has discovered that the development of the brain is influenced by critical and sensitive periods in which existing synapses in a particular region of the brain are thought to stabilize, suggesting that it may become more difficult to create new connections in that region thereafter.  Therefore, there are windows of opportunity during which stimuli and specific experiences are crucial in order to promote the synaptic growth. The critical periods in early childhood and shortly thereafter develop mathematic understanding, literacy, and language, gross and fine motor skills, a second language, music, and social/emotional skills.  

                        Relationships are among the most important experiences that young children have, and they have a particularly strong influence on social and emotional functioning.  Children need daily interesting and stimulating social experiences. Prior research has discovered that the sensitive period for social development occurs before age five.  Emotional abilities are necessary in every social relationship.

              Understanding several emotions, how to display them, and how to interpret other people’s emotions are keys to successful relationships in the future. The possibility of being less shy, more confident and less afraid, more expressive and more able to communicate and be understood by others, improve impulse control and be able to regulate their emotional behavior instead of getting out of control. 

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Years Old

   Seeing and Hearing

    Language and Speech           

    Higher Cognitive Function

Graph 1. Experience-dependent Synapse Formation