How learning works at Brent.
Brent's academic approach combines strong foundational literacy and science learning with the arts, field studies, and opportunities for students to make and share meaningful work.
Brent Bears are guided by values, driven by excellence.
We believe enduring courage in the face of adversity creates students that are leaders in and out of the classroom.
We believe compassion and understanding are building blocks for engaged and passionate students.
We believe that students should be engaged and active participants in their own education.
We believe in instilling a sense of ownership in our students, giving them agency over their education.
How learning works at Brent
Responsive Classroom
Believing that social development and personal responsibility are essential to a challenging and joyful school community, Brent uses the Responsive Classroom approach to build essential skills: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control. Students begin their day with a morning meeting, learn the importance of rules and logical consequences, are introduced to new materials through a guided process, and gain self-esteem through decision making.
The Responsive Classroom is designed to infuse all teaching at the school, including the thoughtful arrangement of each classroom to encourage independence, promote caring, and maximize learning.
Curriculum by grade band
Brent's atelier-inspired, Reggio Emilia approach gives students time to observe, make, revise, and explain their thinking. Teachers treat student work, questions, and documentation as part of the learning process—not just as finished products. Targeted literacy support, including Orton-Gillingham-informed approaches where appropriate, helps students build strong foundations.
As a DCPS school, Brent follows district-approved curricular programs in all subject areas. Where there is flexibility to make selections in response to student needs, the school uses research-based programs aligned to goals and assessments. Families can learn more through weekly teacher emails and Back-to-School Night presentations.
ECE (PK3 and PK4) classrooms use a Reggio Emilia-inspired approach, with Heggerty phonemic awareness supporting early literacy from ECE through first grade. In Kindergarten, students use Eureka Math Squared, Orton-Gillingham+ Structured Literacy, and Let's Gather read-aloud materials alongside Heggerty.
First grade adds Heggerty Bridge to Writing, which connects grammar and writing-process instruction. Second grade uses Arts and Letters, an integrated English language arts program that brings reading and writing together with science, history, and the arts.
Grades 3–5 use Wit and Wisdom for integrated English language arts. Across the grade bands, these district-approved and school-selected programs give teachers a coherent foundation while leaving room for field studies, Atelier work, responsive teaching, and student interests.
Field Studies
Students develop ideas through writing, visual art, music, performance, and exhibitions. Science learning is hands-on and connected to field studies and the public sharing of student work.
Brent's field studies program draws on the splendors of Washington's museums to make history, science, literature, and the arts come alive. In an age in which our reliance on virtual experiences is increasing, Brent students visit actual works of art and historical artifacts, and they gain a sense of artistry by creating their own exhibits and performances.
Each year, Brent focuses on a school-wide theme, which creates a web of learning and common experience between grades. A class studying the chemistry of water might visit the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop to explore how water interacts with clay and glazes in pottery-making. George Washington's medicine kit at the Smithsonian might open a discussion of sanitary conditions during the Revolution, and send students off to research and perform a play about how soldiers lived.
Language skills leave the page when students write the labels for their own exhibits and serve as docents, explaining the displays to visitors. Each year's theme culminates in all-school exhibitions.
These are open to the public. Please come and bring your family!
Library
Students at Brent visit the library once a week to check out books. Students can access the library catalog, Destiny Discover, through their Clever account. Clever also gives students access to many research and learning resources, such as Britannica Elementary, PebbleGo, BrainPOP, and e-books and audiobooks through the Sora app. Families can find even more resources at the DC Public Library—every DC student can get a public library card by stopping into their local branch.
The highest-scoring elementary school in Washington, DC.
Brent earned an accountability score of 89.4 on the District's 2024-25 school report card — higher than every other elementary school in DC, public or charter. Most of that score comes from growth: how far our students travel in a year, not just where they started.