OVERVIEW

Every student and family comes to Monarch with a unique set of gifts, needs, difficulties and obstacles. Traditional schooling has not proven an effective learning environment for our students. Good people, good institutions and good intentions programs have not resulted in a successful school experience. The Monarch School accepts the challenge of crafting an environment and experience that is successful.

Program Foundations

We take as our first premise that learning must be learner-centered. This is consistent with the psychological research, and the framework for school design and reform laid out by the American Psychological Association in the APA 14 learner-centered psychological principles. We have shaped our program so that it focuses on the critical cognitive, motivational and affective factors that research suggests determine school (and life) success.

Second, we fundamentally believe that growth takes place holistically and within a developmental context. We commit ourselves to assist the student in making progress in

(1) academic competence

(2) self-regulation and self-awareness

(3) relationship development

(4) executive functions

Our developmental model has four levels: Novice, Apprentice, Challenger and Voyager. Each level has its own identity. Each student works on individual pivotal objectives chosen by and for him/her within the four core goal areas. As objectives are mastered, new objectives are chosen. Roles for teachers, questions for students, parent training priorities, social grouping and/or curriculum selections all vary according to the student’s ability to organize for learning.

We believe that every student has a uniquely individual style of learning. We study each student’s learning style, including their style of executive functioning, and their unique approach to organizing relational, personal and cognitive tasks and functions. Our faculty is trained to develop a neurodevelopmental profile for each student. . We then consciously match or pair instruction with the individual learning strengths and weaknesses of each student.

Our students need guided practice and coaching. Their significant neurological differences have dislocated or marginalized them from typical educational settings, and deprived them of the many practices necessary to successfully regulate themselves in response to the demands of a rapid, complex, and challenging world. It is incumbent upon us to provide each student with a coach –-- a co-voyager who guides, counsels and mentors students. Coaching at Monarch has a curriculum and a structure that meets student needs at the various levels.

Finally, psychology and pedagogy meet and merge at Monarch. Multi-disciplinary psychology faculty members provide multiple assists students to be successful in a school environment. They work side by side with teachers to develop behavioral and cognitive plans. They design tracking and reflection systems that support the students’ work through the Monarch levels system. They conduct psychosocial groups to promote ownership and awareness of relationship development.