We Respect Childhood

The Center’s teachers understand and appreciate the cognitive, intellectual, physical, and socialemotional development of the children they teach. Our teachers continually read, discuss, and participate in workshops and classes that extend their professional development, impacting them professionally and benefiting their students and colleagues.

Classrooms and outdoor spaces are based on research and best practices. They are designed and arranged to be learning environments JUST RIGHT for the children using them—comfortable, warm, and always providing opportunities for growth and challenge.

Respecting child development means that we honor where each child is today and expect great things of them as they grow and learn. We know that children are capable, kind, and exceedingly curious. Children of all ages thrive when challenged to stretch and grow, and we understand that this challenge is very different at different ages and developmental stages.

Our Toddlers are learning autonomy, early social skills, language, and trust as they become a part of a warm classroom community. Their physical and cognitive abilities grow rapidly in a short period of time, so our teachers arrange the classroom and daily schedule to nurture children and expand their skills.

By sixth grade, children are developing independence in a whole new way, built on the foundation of all of their previous development. Eleven and 12-year-olds are making a leap as their thinking moves from more concrete to more abstract, a continuity of the developmental trajectory to more complex thinking. This abstract thinking opens up doors socially and academically. Students become much more nuanced in their understanding of friendship and their individual place in—and responsibility to—their local and world community. They are also ready to dive into higher level thinking in their literary analysis, writing, and math. Our elementary program scaffolds skills aligned with developmental readiness so that our 6th graders transition from our 5th grade elementary model to a middle school schedule in their 6th grade year at The Center with distinct subjects and teachers for each class. Our graduates are ready for secondary school expectations for coursework and homework.