Students at Logan River Academy come to us with a variety of academic issues. Some have come from prestigious boarding schools, others from wilderness programs or residential treatment centers, and the rest from a public or private school background. We find most have not had a good experience with school and for one reason or another have had a recent pattern of failure. Academic issues and poor school performance can be attributed to a variety of sources:
· Poor peer choices
· Drugs and Alcohol use/abuse
· Learning differences
· Learning disabilities both diagnosed and undiagnosed
· ADD/ADHD
· Inadequate support systems
· Familial concerns, death, divorce, etc.
· Anxiety, poor motivation, emotional distress and/or clinically diagnosed disorders
Logan River Academy, which is a residential treatment center, offers a unique and concentrated mechanism for helping students with academic issues. We provide the needed therapeutic interventions and structure to give students a foundational starting point to begin, or rediscover, their academic success.
Our school is designed to provide a positive experience for each student as he/she begins our program. We have small classes, ranging from 8-15 students per class, that are designed to give the students access to their teachers and place them in an arena that can be as individualized as needed. Students have tutorials during the week that allow them to learn organizational skills and receive help from teachers and peers. They also have access to teachers after school which allows those who struggle with academic issues to get one-on-one help with specific assignments and learning strategies. There is a scheduled personal study hour each evening that students use to work on schoolwork, read, or to do other productive activities. This gives them 1-2 hours each day to receive help outside of the classroom.
Students who come to our program with academic issues and have an Individual Educational Plans (IEP’s) where accommodations are indicated, receive those accommodations. Accommodations range from extended time on tests, reduced course work, and adjusted daily class schedules, to having technology available for them to use. We look at the appropriate accommodations for each student before they are admitted so as to ascertain our ability to provide the need service. Accommodations are then put into place as needed by our academic staff. Students without IEP’s receive the same consideration based on need as determined by the academic staff. We have the ability with our small class size and teaching staff to provide most students with learning differences the tools to be successful in class.
We provide feedback in the form of grades for our students every two weeks. This gives the students and families more immediate feedback on how they are doing in school. Timely feedback has shown to make difference in supporting students with academic issues related to attention deficit and learning disorders. This information is available to parents via the internet and is updated at the end of each two week grading period. There is also a homework list that is generated daily to remind students, dorm counselors, and therapists of the work a student may be missing. Tutors are also available to our students with their academic issues and subject specific questions if needed. We also score each student’s classroom performance and personal behavior weekly based on the criterion needed to advance from status to status in our program.
Most of our students find that if they utilize the above described system, they can improve their performance in school and build a foundation and develop skills to minimize most academic issues. Improvement breeds a better attitude, advancement through the program, and an increase in privileges. This has shown to be pattern that most of our successful students follow and we believe it will serve as a model for them to achieve success with their academic issues after they leave Logan River Academy.
Parents are involved weekly student updates via phone calls that occur between the therapist and the family. There is also a monthly report that is generated by the therapists to let the family know how the student is doing in the program. Teachers write reports monthly on the students’ progress, including details on academic performance, behavioral issues, and information specific to the student’s needs. These are used to help the treatment team assess the progress of the student and to determine the level to which students can advance. The teachers email a copy of this progress note to the parents each month.