Updates From Shortridge Academy

Shortridge Academy is one of only a few therapeutic boarding schools in the Northeast accredited by the rigorous New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and the only school of its kind that explicitly utilizes the evidenced-based Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspective to guide the individualized therapeutic programming for students. Since 2002, Shortridge Academy has been helping students and families who are struggling with academic performance, loss of interest in activities and increased conflict in family or peer relationships.

As we solidly settle in to our Positive Youth Development, partnership and power-sharing model we are noticing some trends in terms of the profile of students recently accepted and who seem to benefit most for our school and program. Our community and milieu being more normalized than the typical therapeutic school fits well with a student population who have common characteristics such as school avoidance, family/parent conflict and anxiety. Our current enrollment patterns continue to show we serve students predominantly from the mid-Atlantic and Northeast with growing trends of students coming from the Midwest.

Since December Shortridge has welcomed new teachers and new counselors to our team. Two new teachers in English, World History and Spanish have joined the team as well as three new clinicians.

Shortridge Academy's recent graduates have really excelled in securing acceptances and scholarships. Here are some highlights: High Point, Roanoke ($10k scholarship), Montana State University ($16k scholarship), Becker College ($10k scholarship), University of New Haven ($12k scholarship), Florida Institute of Technology ($10.5k scholarship), Wilkes University ($13k scholarship), Barry University ($12k scholarship), Ithaca College ($7k scholarship), Clark University ($7k scholarship). Congratulations to these students for their success and to Sarah Wagner and the team here for their work.

Student plans are now data driven. Shortridge's partnership with Outcome Tools has accelerated the collection of data and electronic instrument dissemination to drive the development and revision of each student's Positive Development Plan. The results of this information from instruments such as Family Communication Scale, Student Strengths at Enrollment and Dealing with Conflict are all used to drive the inclusion of activities and strategies for each student's plan.

Finally, Adam will be on the road some more in April as will Don. Look for us both at the upcoming IECA. Don will also be presenting at the TABS conference, and we will be making trips to the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Texas soon.

Please let us know if you have any questions or want to visit our campus. Look forward to seeing you soon.

Shortridge Academy is a year round, college preparatory, therapeutic boarding school for young men and women ages 14-18 years old, grades 9-12.