The Country School is an independent, coeducational, Pre-K through 8 school founded in 1934.

News

Finding Your Child's Optimal Learning Environment

By: Dr. Laurie Reider-Lewis
Country School consulting psychologist Dr. Laurie Reider-Lewis reviews the criteria for selecting the optimal learning environment for your child that meets their varied social, emotional, and academic needs.
“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.”  This Chinese proverb highlights the notion that education is, indeed, a “gift that keeps on giving.”  Parents are invested in providing their children with, whenever possible, access to the highest quality learning environments so they may reap the trans-generational rewards of a strong education.  A child’s formal transition into school, which most typically occurs upon his or her entrance into Kindergarten, is a uniquely critical time for parents to consider the core features that characterize optimal learning environments, to assess the extent to which a particular learning environment “fits” the needs of their individual child, and to facilitate their child’s positive adjustment to school.
Optimal Learning Environments 
A review of the literature on the general topic of what makes a learning environment “ideal” reveals common ingredients across settings that parents can keep in mind when assessing whether a specific academic setting is optimal for their child:  
  • The “Feel” of the School.  One consistent finding is that schools described as “nurturing” due to the presence of supportive, respectful interactions between all members of a school community tend to have students who demonstrate better academic outcomes.  
  • The Quality of Academic Content and Teaching. Another established notion is that student learning is profoundly enhanced through curriculum delivered by quality, enthusiastic, and innovative teachers who are also committed to ongoing personal and professional development.  In this regard, schools with smaller student-teacher ratios particularly enable more personal, student-teacher interactions along with greater levels of individualized attention, thereby promoting better academic outcomes for students.  Furthermore, learning environments that are well-resourced with an array of updated, enriching curriculum materials and provide chances for integrated, hands-on learning experiences and achievement of mastery in a variety of different subject areas tend to yield higher levels of student performance.  
  • A Commitment to the Whole Child.  Schools that emphasize commitments to social, emotional, and physical health through the implementation of formal social-emotional health education programs and offer frequent, consistent outlets for physical activity possess students who achieve better academically as well as socially and emotionally.  To quote Aristotle, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”   
Identifying “Good Fits”
In the social sciences, the term “goodness of fit” refers to the level of compatibility between an individual’s temperament and his or her surrounding environment; the more comfortable the fit between an individual and their external world (which includes other individuals as well as circumstances or settings), the better.  Just as not all schools are created equal, not all children are created equal.  While a more traditional setting may be best for a certain type of child based on his or her social, emotional, behavioral, and intellectual characteristics, it may not be ideal for another.  Therefore, when considering the most optimal learning environment for your child, attend first to his or her characteristics and the corresponding “goodness of fit” with an academic setting.
 
Facilitate a Child’s Positive Adjustment to School
In a piece authored for the American Psychological Association (APA) and co-sponsored by the APA, The Congressional Children Caucus, The Bipartisan House Reading Caucus, and The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/education/pallen.aspx), New York University School of Education professor LaRue Allen underscored three primary school environment factors that help children to achieve academic success.  Not surprisingly, these factors overlap with those that are commonly found in the optimal learning environments listed above.  In sum, schools that value and cultivate strong school-family partnerships, equally prioritize academic and social-emotional competence, and mindfully attend to the needs of students navigating developmental and/or academic transitions are found to be the most effective learning environments which, in turn, support incoming students’ positive adjustment to school.      
So, what can parents do to facilitate their child’s positive adjustment to school? In her article entitled “Promoting Young Children’s School Readiness: What Parents Can Do” featured by the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/sites/default/files/textes-experts/en/839/promoting-young-childrens-school-readiness-what-parents-can-do.pdf, Dr. Janet Agnes Welsh emphasizes the importance of the following: 1) positive parent-child interactions that emphasize joint play, engagement in language-based activities such as reading, and exposure to stimulating toys and experiences; 2) collaborative relationships between school and home; and 3) positive parenting and discipline practices.   
 
Back

Recent News

List of 5 news stories.

News Archive
© 2017 The Country School. All Rights Reserved.
The Country School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational, admission, and employment policies, or its financial aid, athletic, and other school administered programs.
716 Goldsborough Street, Easton, MD 21601 • 410.822.1935