Hopkins House Innovative Preschool Academy, Herndon

The Hopkins House Preschool Academy is a true "school." Our focus, in addition to offering a safe-haven for the children, is educating and preparing them for exceptional achievement in kindergarten and beyond. At the Hopkins House Preschool Academy, we value families and the central role they play as first teachers of their children; we value age-appropriate teaching methods founded on best practices and implemented by well-educated and trained educators; and, we value activities in the classroom that allow children to explore, experiment, imitate, ask questions and be questioned. In collaboration with RAND Corporation, a prestigious national think-tank, Hopkins House has set out four key purposes for this Innovative Preschool Academy: 1. Measurable and consistent delivery of excellent Early Childhood Education (ECE). 2. Relentless pursuit of improvement in ECE within the academy. 3. Spin-off of such improvements for other academies within the Hopkins House system. 4. Generation of results, promising approaches, and hypotheses for the wider field of ECE practice and research. Class size is limited and only the most experienced and well-trained educators are employed at the academy. To be clear, this Innovative Preschool Academy is not "experimental." Because the first obligation is to its Young Scholars (i.e. the children), only proven or promising approaches are considered. The Innovative Preschool Academy emphasizes the following: - High quality teachers and teaching - Excellent Facilities and ample supplies - Parent engagement - Experienced and knowledgeable management leadership - Year-round education - State-of-the-art curriculum - Standards and metrics - Linkage with research and study