Berkeley Carroll School
Encyclopedia
The Berkeley Carroll School is an independent
, nonsectarian
, coed day school
, enrolling about 800 students from pre-kindergarten
through high school
. Berkeley Carroll School is located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn
at three locations: 181 Lincoln Place, 701 Carroll Street, and 762 President Street.
The school was created in 1982 by consolidatiing the Berkeley Institute, an all-girls school chartered in 1886, and the Carroll Street School, a Montessori-style preschool founded in 1966. The Berkeley Institute was named after Irish
empiricist philosopher George Berkeley
.
, math, science
, and social studies
. Middle School, grades five through eight, promotes social and intellectual growth with an academic program including language arts
and literature
, history
, computer science
, physical education
, the arts
, and French and Spanish. The college preparatory objective of the Upper School, grades nine through twelve, is reflected in the academic and co-curricular programs including a foreign student exchange
program, creative arts electives, independent study
, advanced placement classes and community service
. Additionally, many students are also involved in student government, choir
, jazz
, or chamber music
ensembles, and team or intramural sports
.
Berkeley Carroll has an athletic center at the President Street location. The facility has a four lane, 75 feet (22.9 m) long swimming pool, a full-size gym
nasium, a mezzanine area for fitness and strength training
, and an open rooftop playground
.
Including alumni of The Berkeley Institute and Carroll Street School, Berkeley Carroll School has over 2,000 alumni.
Over the summer, Berkeley Carroll offers two summer camp
programs: The Children's Day Camp (for ages 3 to 8) located at Carroll Street, and the Creative Arts Program (for older children and teenagers) at Lincoln Place.
In December 2006, given the "brownstone-Brooklyn baby boom", Berkeley Carroll has experienced an unprecedented overload of preschool applicants. This led the school to stop accepting applications early, much to the dismay of parents, as reported in New York
magazine.
A New York Sun
article on Jan. 31, 2008, noted that the "amped-up academic program at the artist-chic Berkeley Carroll School in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has been expanding the school's family base: Not just brownstoners, but many Manhattanites now attend. Still, the school's parent base is heavily drawn from the publishing world, and the editor-novelist crowd has an impact on the school. After tenth-graders read "Motherless Brooklyn," author Jonathan Lethem
came in to lead some classes on it. A Writers in Residence program has included Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri
."
An honor code
was implemented in the Upper School at the start of the 2007-2008 academic year.
. The 2006-2007 girls varsity basketball team beat Dwight to become the champions of the ACIS (Athletic Conference of Independent Schools) league. On May 20, 2009, Berkeley Carroll won its first NYSAISAA baseball title, beating defending state champion Poly Prep 4-1.
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
, nonsectarian
Nonsectarian
Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense, refers to a lack of sectarianism. The term is also more narrowly used to describe secular private educational institutions or other organizations either not affiliated with or not restricted to a particular religious denomination though the organization...
, coed day school
Day school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
, enrolling about 800 students from pre-kindergarten
Pre-Kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten refers to the first formal academic classroom-based learning environment that a child customarily attends in the United States. It begins between the ages of 3-5 depending on the length of the program...
through high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. Berkeley Carroll School is located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
at three locations: 181 Lincoln Place, 701 Carroll Street, and 762 President Street.
The school was created in 1982 by consolidatiing the Berkeley Institute, an all-girls school chartered in 1886, and the Carroll Street School, a Montessori-style preschool founded in 1966. The Berkeley Institute was named after Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
empiricist philosopher George Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
.
Facilities
The school has three educational divisions, from preschool through high school. The Lower School, with preschool through grade four, focuses on the fundamentals of reading, writingWriting
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
, math, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, and social studies
Social studies
Social studies is the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence," as defined by the American National Council for the Social Studies...
. Middle School, grades five through eight, promotes social and intellectual growth with an academic program including language arts
Language arts
Traditionally, the primary divisions in the language arts are Literature and Language, where language in this case refers to both linguistics, and specific languages....
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
, the arts
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
, and French and Spanish. The college preparatory objective of the Upper School, grades nine through twelve, is reflected in the academic and co-curricular programs including a foreign student exchange
Student exchange program
A student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
program, creative arts electives, independent study
Independent study
Independent study is a form of education offered by many high schools, colleges, and other educational institutions around the world. It is sometimes referred to as directed study...
, advanced placement classes and community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
. Additionally, many students are also involved in student government, choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, or chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
ensembles, and team or intramural sports
Intramural sports
Intramural sports or intramurals are recreational sports organized within a set geographic area. The term derives from the Latin words intra muros meaning "within walls", and was used to indicate sports matches and contests that took place among teams from "within the walls" of an ancient city...
.
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium, a mezzanine area for fitness and strength training
Weight training
Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...
, and an open rooftop playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
.
Including alumni of The Berkeley Institute and Carroll Street School, Berkeley Carroll School has over 2,000 alumni.
Over the summer, Berkeley Carroll offers two summer camp
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
programs: The Children's Day Camp (for ages 3 to 8) located at Carroll Street, and the Creative Arts Program (for older children and teenagers) at Lincoln Place.
In December 2006, given the "brownstone-Brooklyn baby boom", Berkeley Carroll has experienced an unprecedented overload of preschool applicants. This led the school to stop accepting applications early, much to the dismay of parents, as reported in New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine.
A New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
article on Jan. 31, 2008, noted that the "amped-up academic program at the artist-chic Berkeley Carroll School in Park Slope, Brooklyn, has been expanding the school's family base: Not just brownstoners, but many Manhattanites now attend. Still, the school's parent base is heavily drawn from the publishing world, and the editor-novelist crowd has an impact on the school. After tenth-graders read "Motherless Brooklyn," author Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Lethem
Jonathan Allen Lethem is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer. His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels...
came in to lead some classes on it. A Writers in Residence program has included Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri is a Bengali American author. Lahiri's debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies , won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and her first novel, The Namesake , was adapted into the popular film of the same name. She was born Nilanjana Sudeshna, which she says are both...
."
An honor code
Honor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...
was implemented in the Upper School at the start of the 2007-2008 academic year.
Athletics
The school is a member of the New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic AssociationNew York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association
The New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association is a sports league for independent schools in New York state...
. The 2006-2007 girls varsity basketball team beat Dwight to become the champions of the ACIS (Athletic Conference of Independent Schools) league. On May 20, 2009, Berkeley Carroll won its first NYSAISAA baseball title, beating defending state champion Poly Prep 4-1.
Notable alumni
- Helen Gahagan Douglas - Congresswoman and actress
- Margaret FarrarMargaret FarrarMargaret Petherbridge Farrar was an American journalist and the first crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times, from 1942 to 1968...
- Journalist and New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
crossword puzzle editor from 1942-1968 - Zena GreyZena GreyZena Lotus Grey is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the Hollywood films Snow Day, Max Keeble's Big Move, and The Shaggy Dog....
- Actress - Karla JayKarla JayKarla Jay is a professor of English and the director of the Women's and Gender Studies program at Pace University. A pioneer in the field of lesbian and gay studies, she is widely published....
- Professor and gay rights activist - Adam OttavinoAdam OttavinoAdam Robert Ottavino is a Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently in the St. Louis Cardinals organization....
- Major League BaseballMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
pitcher for the St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... - Dorothy SarnoffDorothy SarnoffDorothy Sarnoff was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, and self-help guru. She had an active performing career from the late 1930s through the 1950s, during which time she sang in several operas with the New York City Opera and created several roles on Broadway, most notably...
- Operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, and self-help guru