Over the past two decades, neuroscience researchers have gained many new insights into how the human brain develops. It has long been known that infancy (0-3 years) is when the brain circuits that enable cognitive development are formed. It turns out that there is also a second phase of development during adolescence when brain circuits undergo extensive pruning and rewiring that strengthens the ability to make decisions and control impulses and thus prepares a child for adulthood.*

From the standpoint of education, a child’s experiences during infancy are quite critical to his or her ability to learn reading and basic math (arithmetic and other quantitative concepts). Children who don’t get appropriate stimulation in infancy—such as parents reading books with them—or who experience trauma and neglect are at high risk of cognitive deficits and of falling behind in school. Pre-school as a 3- or 4-year old can help such children, and so can good primary teaching. But all too many children fail to read or do math at grade level by the end of 3rd grade—and they rarely catch up thereafter.

The new findings about adolescence are equally consequential for educational success, because this second phase of brain development is also strongly influenced by a child’s experiences, which means that adolescence is both a period of opportunity and a time of high risk. First, the time-frame has changed drastically: over the past 5 decades, the beginning of adolescence (or the end of puberty) in the U.S. has gotten earlier by at least 2 years and now typically occurs about age 12. The average age of full brain maturity (the end of adolescence) has risen into the early twenties. This extended, decade-long adolescence—earlier onset, delayed transition to adulthood—means that children experience the hormonal changes of puberty that give rise to strong emotions and impulses long before the brain gains the ability to effectively self-regulate thoughts and behaviors. At the same time, adolescence is a period when exposing a child to novelty and challenges not only helps him or her to acquire and strengthen skills, but also helps to maintain the brain’s openness to future development, especially in regions of the brain that regulate the experience of pleasure, how we view and think about other people, and self-control.

The purpose of education is, at least in part, to prepare students to succeed in life. There is now strong evidence that what matters even more than knowledge or intellectual ability is motivation and determination, which are both strongly linked to the ability to self-regulate thoughts and behaviors. Including classes on social/emotional learning in middle school curricula would help to prepare the brain for mastering self-control. Adding activities in high school that develop self-regulation—including computer-based training, aerobic exercise and physical activity that demands concentration, as well as more demanding academic coursework—would help even more. Perhaps schools and parents should collaborate to establish a “prep” year after high school but before college—a year filled with activities such as those described above—at least for some students.

This new perspective on brain development also helps to explain what many parents perceive about schools. If middle school seems chaotic, the primary cause is likely the biology of the students, coping with puberty—not the school. If high school students seem bored, then probably they are not being challenged enough or exposed to novel experiences. If college students spend too much time partying and drinking (and waste their parents expensive tuition payments), then possibly they entered college too early, before they had brains capable of self-regulation.

*This article draws heavily from an excellent book, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence , by Laurence Steinberg, PhD. It’s recommended reading for all educators and parents.