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Parents considering private education in Brooklyn face several prestigious options, each with distinct educational philosophies and approaches. Brooklyn Friends School, Packer Collegiate Institute, St. Ann’s School, and Berkeley Carroll School represent four of the borough’s most established independent institutions. Understanding how these Brooklyn Friends school and Brooklyn private schools differ helps families identify which environment best supports their child’s development.
Brooklyn Friends School grounds its approach in Quaker principles, emphasizing the belief that each person possesses an “inner light” deserving respect and cultivation. The school organizes its work around SPICES—Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship—which inform everything from conflict resolution to curriculum design.
St. Ann’s School operates without grades or standardized testing. This Brooklyn private school allows juniors and seniors to design their own curriculum, creating an environment focused on “learning for the sake of learning.”
Berkeley Carroll School emphasizes “critical, ethical, and global thinking” combining methods across educational traditions while serving students from preschool through 12th grade.
Brooklyn Friends School stands apart through its coherent values system that extends beyond mission statements into daily practice. Weekly Meeting for Worship brings the entire community together for silent reflection, creating space for students to develop inner awareness alongside academic skills.
Leadership and Direction
Head of School Crissy Cáceres joined Brooklyn Friends School in 2019, bringing a distinctive “leadership walk” approach that emphasizes responsive engagement with community needs. “I am somebody who is malleable to the human energy that’s in front of me,” Cáceres explains, describing her philosophy as fluid rather than fixed.
Cáceres describes herself as a “way maker” who considers “what is it that my agency and my insight and my experience, and frankly also my power and positionality, allows for me to do in service to those needs that are present?”
Academic Programs and Curriculum
Brooklyn Friends School offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for 11th and 12th grade students, making it one of only two Brooklyn schools with this globally recognized curriculum. The IB program emphasizes critical thinking, international-mindedness, and community service through its core components: Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, and Creativity-Activity-Service.
Packer Collegiate provides college preparatory education with Advanced Placement courses. Berkeley Carroll offers an “academically challenging, college preparatory program, enriched with creative arts and athletics.”
Brooklyn Friends School maintains a 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio, enabling personalized attention throughout the educational journey. This ratio supports the school’s commitment to knowing each student as an individual.
Approach to Student Development
Brooklyn Friends School frames behavioral challenges as “mistake making” rather than occasions for punishment. Head of School Cáceres explains: “In order for bullying to occur, there had to be active intent, there had to be a connection to what you thought you gained from the bullying, there had to be a measure of trying to hide or omit yourself from the impact of that. And their frontal lobes have not fully developed enough for all of those three things to be true. So that is not bullying, that’s mistake making.”
When conflicts arise, teachers gather students in circles to discuss what happened, why it happened, and how to repair relationships. During Cáceres’ tenure, zero students have been counseled out for behavioral reasons.
Berkeley Carroll School uses restorative practices, viewing “conflict as an opportunity for growth and learning.” This Brooklyn private school coaches students “to think flexibly, use their voice, and consider the perspectives of others involved.”
After a conversation about inappropriate language, three seventh-grade students told Cáceres the meeting “wasn’t about what was happening at Brooklyn Friends School right there, that it was about our lives. That if we took seriously what we were about to have a conversation about, it would affect us for our whole lives.”
Community and Diversity
Brooklyn Friends School serves approximately 725 students from all five boroughs, with 39% identifying as students of color. One in four families receives tuition assistance, reflecting the school’s commitment to economic diversity.
Brooklyn Friends School offers families a specific combination: rigorous academics through the IB program, restorative practices grounded in developmental understanding, and a coherent values framework that guides daily decisions. The school’s 158-year history demonstrates sustained commitment to its founding principles while adapting educational methods to contemporary needs.
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