About the Founder
Jessica Strauss is an early childhood development specialist with over 20 years of experience in education, curriculum design, and cognitive development. With experience in both Montessori and Reggio Emilia approaches, she has developed innovative academic programs for preschools, orphanages, and early elementary institutions across the globe.
In her early 30s, Jessica led an international nonprofit organization focused on supporting orphaned and vulnerable children in developing countries. There, she designed and implemented early childhood programs grounded in neuroscience and advised on national policy—including training the Prime Minister of Uganda on the intersection of Montessori education and early brain architecture for orphaned and vulnerable children. One of her core missions was to reintroduce the Montessori method into orphanages, restoring its original humanitarian purpose and mitigating the neurological effects of trauma and neglect on children in institutional care.
Jessica is recognized for her deep expertise in how trauma and neglect impact brain architecture during critical developmental windows. With over 20,000 hours of research, she has become a leading voice in early childhood neuroeducation. Her work is informed by the unprecedented research that emerged in the 2000s from the study of children adopted from Romanian, Russian, and Chinese orphanages. These studies, made possible by the relative uniformity of orphanage environments and the long-term tracking of developmental outcomes, created a more accurate picture of how early deprivation shapes the developing brain.
Her curriculum model, built upon this research, is grounded in the idea that IQ is not fixed but built. Drawing from her knowledge of neuroanatomy, she aligned systematic phonics instruction with Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the brain—centers for language production and comprehension that are most active around age three. For early math, she timed instruction to the development of the intraparietal sulcus, introducing place value, logic, and spatial reasoning during peak numerical cognition. Piano instruction is included to strengthen the corpus callosum—the brain's communication bridge between hemispheres—based on research showing that two-handed instruments can significantly enhance executive function and processing speed in young children.
After stepping back from international work to focus on her own family and process her experiences abroad, Jessica began tutoring children in Chicago’s West Loop. There, she tested and refined her brain-based academic model with over a hundred students. Her students consistently scored in the 90–99th percentile on standardized and gifted assessments, including the CPS Selective Enrollment tests. Many saw dramatic increases in scores within a year of instruction, with gains from the 20th percentile to the 90th and from the 90s to the 130s on gifted scales. The first Kindergarten class at Brain Builders Academy scored in the top 1% worldwide on the NWEA MAP math and reading tests.
Today, Jessica is the founder and director of Brain Builders Academy, where she has translated her research and results into a full academic program for children ages 3–9. The academy condenses the core fundamentals of elementary school into the early years, leveraging mirror neuron theory and brain development science to deliver high-rigor, low-ratio instruction.
At Brain Builders, the classroom structure mimics the evolutionarily familiar environment of “family-sized” groups—no more than five children per teacher—facilitating high-touch, relationship-based learning. This ratio, long recommended by researchers including the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, is rarely implemented in practice due to financial constraints. Yet Jessica has prioritized it, knowing that true cognitive acceleration and emotional safety require this level of connection.
Her approach rejects the notion that certain academic material is "too advanced" for young children. Instead, she argues it’s the method—not the content—that determines whether a child is developmentally ready. When taught through observation, imitation, and hands-on exploration in alignment with brain growth, children are capable of mastering concepts far beyond conventional expectations. By introducing core academic subjects during their ideal neurological windows, she helps students weave those concepts into the architecture of their brains—producing not just academic success, but durable cognitive gains that last well beyond early childhood.
Jessica continues to track the progress of former students years after they leave her program, and they remain among the top performers in their schools. Her life's work is to bridge the gap between neuroscience and education—redefining what children are capable of when teaching is aligned with how the brain actually grows.
In her early 30s, Jessica led an international nonprofit organization focused on supporting orphaned and vulnerable children in developing countries. There, she designed and implemented early childhood programs grounded in neuroscience and advised on national policy—including training the Prime Minister of Uganda on the intersection of Montessori education and early brain architecture for orphaned and vulnerable children. One of her core missions was to reintroduce the Montessori method into orphanages, restoring its original humanitarian purpose and mitigating the neurological effects of trauma and neglect on children in institutional care.
Jessica is recognized for her deep expertise in how trauma and neglect impact brain architecture during critical developmental windows. With over 20,000 hours of research, she has become a leading voice in early childhood neuroeducation. Her work is informed by the unprecedented research that emerged in the 2000s from the study of children adopted from Romanian, Russian, and Chinese orphanages. These studies, made possible by the relative uniformity of orphanage environments and the long-term tracking of developmental outcomes, created a more accurate picture of how early deprivation shapes the developing brain.
Her curriculum model, built upon this research, is grounded in the idea that IQ is not fixed but built. Drawing from her knowledge of neuroanatomy, she aligned systematic phonics instruction with Broca's and Wernicke's areas of the brain—centers for language production and comprehension that are most active around age three. For early math, she timed instruction to the development of the intraparietal sulcus, introducing place value, logic, and spatial reasoning during peak numerical cognition. Piano instruction is included to strengthen the corpus callosum—the brain's communication bridge between hemispheres—based on research showing that two-handed instruments can significantly enhance executive function and processing speed in young children.
After stepping back from international work to focus on her own family and process her experiences abroad, Jessica began tutoring children in Chicago’s West Loop. There, she tested and refined her brain-based academic model with over a hundred students. Her students consistently scored in the 90–99th percentile on standardized and gifted assessments, including the CPS Selective Enrollment tests. Many saw dramatic increases in scores within a year of instruction, with gains from the 20th percentile to the 90th and from the 90s to the 130s on gifted scales. The first Kindergarten class at Brain Builders Academy scored in the top 1% worldwide on the NWEA MAP math and reading tests.
Today, Jessica is the founder and director of Brain Builders Academy, where she has translated her research and results into a full academic program for children ages 3–9. The academy condenses the core fundamentals of elementary school into the early years, leveraging mirror neuron theory and brain development science to deliver high-rigor, low-ratio instruction.
At Brain Builders, the classroom structure mimics the evolutionarily familiar environment of “family-sized” groups—no more than five children per teacher—facilitating high-touch, relationship-based learning. This ratio, long recommended by researchers including the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, is rarely implemented in practice due to financial constraints. Yet Jessica has prioritized it, knowing that true cognitive acceleration and emotional safety require this level of connection.
Her approach rejects the notion that certain academic material is "too advanced" for young children. Instead, she argues it’s the method—not the content—that determines whether a child is developmentally ready. When taught through observation, imitation, and hands-on exploration in alignment with brain growth, children are capable of mastering concepts far beyond conventional expectations. By introducing core academic subjects during their ideal neurological windows, she helps students weave those concepts into the architecture of their brains—producing not just academic success, but durable cognitive gains that last well beyond early childhood.
Jessica continues to track the progress of former students years after they leave her program, and they remain among the top performers in their schools. Her life's work is to bridge the gap between neuroscience and education—redefining what children are capable of when teaching is aligned with how the brain actually grows.