Individualized Academic Instruction
Entering treatment doesn’t have to interrupt students’ academic progress. At Newport Academy, we collaborate with schools to ensure that teens continue to reach their academic goals during their time with us. When a teenager is in residential treatment or a Partial Hospitalization Program, we conduct a comprehensive academic assessment, and then create a flexible plan that meets the needs of the student, family, and school.
Unlike other treatment centers, Newport Academy focuses on the whole person, not just their mental health concerns. While supporting teens and their families on the path to healing, we ensure that students are set up for success once they leave treatment, with the self-regulation skills, academic abilities, and self-confidence to launch into adulthood and a bright future.
We work with schools to meet our shared goals of nurturing teens’ love of learning, advancing their progress, and giving them the executive-functioning and organizational skills to be more engaged, inspired, and successful when they return to the school environment.
What Our Academic Program Includes
- A fully accredited curriculum
- SAT and ACT prep
- Individual academic plans
- Specialized tutoring to close proficiency gaps or support strengths
- College application support
- Ongoing communication with each students’ home schools to ensure a smooth transition after treatment
Our Academic Experts
- Credentialed and/or licensed by the state, most with Master’s degrees and special education backgrounds
- Math and science tutors at all locations, with degrees in these subjects
- Specializations in learning disabilities and reading, math, and science intervention
- Extensive training in social emotional learning and adherence to Individualized Education Programs
A Tailored Approach to Learning
Each client’s Individualized Academic Plan (IAP) is informed by a combination of neuropsychoeducational test results and current transcripts, as well as state curriculum standards.
Plans for graduation—whether through their former school, a new school, or the Newport Academy curriculum—are also discussed and formulated. Ultimately, we ensure that our clients stay on track academically, while revitalizing their enthusiasm for learning as they begin to heal and thrive.
“I strongly believe in Newport Academy’s approach, and I see the benefits every day in the classroom. It is incredibly rewarding to see our students’ joy and investment in learning return and grow as they recover.”
—Ryan Fedoroff, M.Ed., Vice President, Learning and Development
How Our Academic Program Works
Our approach is strengths based. In a typical classroom, everything is focused on what a student can’t do well, and that narrative often becomes ingrained in the students’ and teachers’ minds. We flip that narrative and that negative internal dialogue by focusing on what each student is good at, while acknowledging that we can’t all be good at all things. The arts and creativity might be a high strength for some students, and math might be a “lesser strength” rather than a weakness. Our teachers and tutors focus more on students and less on curriculum, and they have more one-on-one time with students, allowing them to provide tailored interventions to address each student’s specific needs and improve their skill sets.
We work with a range of students who have learning differences, emotional dysregulation, behavioral struggles, and a wide variety of skills and functioning levels in the classroom. Some students find school to be a trigger, or they are truant prior to coming to us; others are excelling in multiple AP courses or even college. Therefore, our educational model is individualized for each student, which is essential in supporting them and meeting them where they are on an academic, emotional, and social level.
Our academic approach is grounded in building rapport with each student, getting to know them, and creating a safe space for them. With this foundation in place, we are we able to truly help and guide them in the classroom by teaching them skills that work for them.
The Interplay Between Healing and Academics
At Newport Healthcare, academic and life skills education is an integral part of the treatment experience. Our whole-person approach recognizes that learning, like every other aspect of a young person’s experience, is inextricably intertwined with their self-esteem, relationships, and sense of empowerment. Our teachers and tutors collaborate on an ongoing basis with the clinicians on each client’s treatment team, so our academic staff understand what’s happening with every patient outside the classroom as well as inside it.
As our patients experience greater levels of well-being and reduction in severity of depression and anxiety symptoms, they feel more prepared, organized, and excited about learning when they return to their home schools or to college— representing a strong correlation between mental health and academic progress.
Unfortunately, many mental healthcare programs do not offer as much time for education or as many supports in the classroom, which means students may need to postpone their education to receive the same level of mental health treatment that Newport provides. Since our students often have anxiety around school, this is extremely helpful because it means they will not have to make up all their work when they return to school.
Our Academic Outcomes
As part of our ongoing research on our treatment outcomes, we use the proprietary Newport Academic Scale (NAS) to track levels of engagement and skill development for patients in our strengths-based academic programming. The scale measures three components—interpersonal skills, study skills, and motivation—adding up to a maximum score of 45 (15 points maximum per component).
On average, from intake to Week 5, Newport patients report improvements across all three components. While parents are often concerned that their children may fall behind academically during residential care, this data suggests the opposite: As a result of Newport’s treatment model, patients actually experience improvement in academic skills and engagement, in some cases for the first time.