A Personal Approach to Education

by Lanny Adamson, M.Ed.,
School Administrator

Do you remember when you got your drivers license? I do. It was liberating and at the same time, a bit scary. I now had to manage a car payment, pay for insurance and yet a job to support my new found identity. I had support from my parents and was expected to act with good moral character.

At Risk Reality
For most teens, life is unmanageable and they need support. At risk youth can turn to one or multiple inhibitors like drugs, negative peer groups, self-harm, promiscuity, an alternate reality, pornography and/or violence to self-medicate from these "unmanageable" moments. What is the outlook of their future? For those who have participated or witnessed this behavior, you know a rough, unnavigable road is ahead with an undesired outcome, and academics, their ticket to success is placed in the backseat.

Support in a Therapeutic Boarding School
When learning is the constant and time is the variable, students are the drivers in their educational journey. Within most traditional classrooms, students are placed among peers and taught as a group with the teacher driving the instruction. At Discovery Academy, our model reflects a high school experience for a class of one, the individual student.

What does it take for a student to shift from being a passenger to the one who drives how they learn and speed of mastery? Like all drivers, not all students are equipped with the necessary skills to navigate their learning. They need motivation, practice and success. When students have to take turns driving, they share learning time. Students at Discovery Academy have the ability to navigate a personal academic plan that reflects their learning pace ensuring constant learning. Students need a strong supportive staff that meets each student at their academic and therapeutic level. This is what we do�..

Student Academic History - Unique data is gathered to support course placement and classroom interventions.
Academic Plan - A dynamic plan is tailored to the individual student to maintain grade-level and to reflect student needs.
Action Plan and Review Goals - A plan must build academic-esteem and hold the student accountable to have sustained success.
School-based Interventions - Interventions must elevate student academic, social and clinical skills and provide behavioral and therapeutic insight.
Mastery Learning - High expectations blended with high levels of support for students on assignments and tests are set at 80%.
ALL STUDENTS CAN LEARN! - Learning is not an option; it is a necessary choice!

Discovery Academy's blended academic and therapeutic approach to education transitions students to believe they can succeed, have a better sense of self, know how they learn, know how to ask for help and prepare for the next turn in their lives.