Our Philosophy
Seaport Academy is a small specialized school for young men in Grades 8 to 12. While many of our students come to Seaport for similar reasons, we know that each is unique in their perspective, hopes, dreams, needs and expectations. With just 28 students, we are able to offer a highly effective program that combines academics with therapeutic support carefully calibrated to meet the unique needs of each of our students.
We also weigh school district requirements and student interests to create a carefully integrated individualized plan for each of our students. The path forward may be unique for each student, but our aim is for all students to find success.
Four Core Principles That Guide Our Approach
-
Students learn best when academics are student-centered and include hands-on opportunities, which is why we offer an academic component that is project-based and includes intensive learning supports.
-
Student agency is key to their growth and development. Our clinical services help students focus on personal growth and self-regulation.
-
Problem-solving is collaborative. This principle is a core aspect of the partnership approach of our behavioral support system.
-
Seaport students develop the life-skills needed to successfully transition to life after graduation. This component of the Seaport approach includes transition planning for life after Seaport: career preparation as well as college and/or vocational training guidance.
Student-Centered Academics
Seaport’s flexible adventure-filled program helps students rediscover the joy of learning and reconnect to their sense of wonder and curiosity about the world. Our student-centered academics include intensive learning supports, projects, integrated executive functioning skill building and social-emotional learning. The challenges we present are often more hands-on than is typical at other programs and give students different ways to build traditional academic and emotional skills.
Evidence-Based Clinical Services
Therapeutic and clinical supports are built into every aspect of Seaport’s program. Our focus is on evidence-based services that help students achieve personal growth and self-regulation. Evidence-based practice combines of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of the student’s individual characteristics, culture and preferences.
What this means at Seaport is that we work closely with the student and their family or guardian to understand who each of our students is as an individual and what the student needs to grow as a person, gain confidence in themselves and regain a sense of hope and positivity about the future.
Collaborative Problem-Solving
Conflict is an inherent and inevitable part of all social interactions – a fact of life that trips up even the most skilled and resilient people from time to time. For young men with a history of struggling in school, the combined forces of adolescence, personal history and learning challenges can make any conflict much more daunting and disruptive than it needs to be.
Developmentally, the teen years are an ideal time to gain collaborative problem-solving skills. At Seaport, collaborative problem-solving uses a a partnership approach to building productive relationships, identifying barriers to success and overcoming previous pitfalls. It helps students move “outside their heads” and work with others to solve problems. Collaborative problem-solving is central to our approach to social emotional learning.
Transition-Grounded Life-Skills
We work closely with our students through our Vocational and Transitional Programs to help them prepare for careers, college and/or vocational training. We help them plot their course and stay on track for what they plan. Students may participate in vocational mini-institutes in boatbuilding, welding, painting and home maintenance. They may also attend a local community college while still at Seaport, be placed with our school-to-work partners or shadow professionals working in a field of interest.