Berkeley Carroll Elementary School

701 Carroll Street

Brooklyn, NY 11215

2 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-12
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by other on March 07, 2017

My husband and I have chosen, after really researching the different local (and not so local) independent and public school options, to enroll all three of our children at this school. Each child is quite different, yet we find that each has found an academic home, a social community, and tremendous support for the specific things they love (as well as the things they don't as readily). The teachers at BC really get to know the children and understand them as individuals. I've been impressed by the depth of their understanding of each of my kids' abilities and challenges, as well as how they interact within a group. The student-teacher ratio (around 19 kids to 2 teachers) allows for this individualized understanding in the lower school, but somehow doesn't drop off in the middle school when there's just one teacher per classroom. The lower school curriculum challenges students to become well-rounded and to work hard at math, writing, science, Spanish, art, music, phys ed, swimming, and computer science. In addition to solid academic fundamentals, I love that my kids have learned to swim at school, learn Spanish starting in the lower school, learn typing and coding in class, and are taught within the context of the Responsive Classroom model, which puts the social environment of the classroom front and center. While I have found that my children were pushed and encouraged in their strengths even in the lower school (with teachers giving additional, more challenging work and/or assigning a teaching/mentoring role when my child was beyond what the rest of the class was doing), In the middle school, academics really take off. In addition to compelling electives and award-winning debate teams and musical ensembles, students dive deep into big subjects--Egypt, Islam, the world water crisis, Civil Rights, the election, world geography--and come out with tremendous awareness and insight. The Spanish curriculum emphasizes developing conversational fluency, rather than drilling conjugations (although those are necessarily explored, too). The math program is based on the premise that if kids understand how numbers relate to each other, they will have keys to all levels of math in the future, which I have found to be brilliant. Their STEAM (STEM+Art) program is always growing and stretching with new developments. We really couldn't be happier with this school.
Submitted by parent on May 17, 2013

My children have been attending Berkeley Carroll since Pre-K. We have found the academics to be appropriately rigorous, the administration and faculty to be dedicated and caring and the environment to be all one could ask for. We would highly recommend BC to anyone considering applying for admission.