Academics
Where students become success stories
Custom Academic Plan
To help our students achieve success, we create a custom Chrysalis academic plan for each student. Upon arrival, our academic team develops a specialized schedule with each student to fit her particular interests and academic needs. We take in to consideration individual learning style and educational testing. All core courses are teacher-led, and class sizes remain small, with an average of six students. Our goal is to provide an intimate academic setting designed to meet student’s therapeutic needs in the classroom.
Engage Strengths & Interests
State-certified teachers use creative and advanced techniques for every core class. Our teachers find ways to engage a girl’s individual strengths and interests, from creative writing to science, art and music. Instructors also teach skills that prepare students for college and a professional career. We have a school counselor who looks at realistic plans for students’ futures, and helps guide seniors through college applications. In fact, because of the confidence and success experienced in and out of our classrooms, the majority of our program graduates go on to pursue higher education.
Extra Support
Some students come to Chrysalis with a history
of academic challenges. To help show a student that she can be successful, we can offer tutoring, one-on-one support, extra time on assignments and testing, reading material out loud, printed notes and many other academic accommodations, whether the student comes to us with a 504 or IEP in place or not. Chrysalis teachers use their small class sizes to offer a myriad of extra support to students who need it
Commitment to self improvement and educational excellence
Courses & Schedule
Chrysalis teachers use advanced methods and real-world applications to increase interest, learning, and retention. Our teachers are state-certified for all core subjects.
We are uniquely aligned with the local Montana Public school, Lincoln County High. LCHS generates all of Chrysalis’s diplomas and transcripts. Chrysalis maintains all policies and standards in accordance with LCHS. Students can even attend the public school as is clinically and academically appropriate.
Year-Round School
Students often come to Chrysalis a little behind in credits due to their therapeutic struggles. By running on a quarterly system, students earn an entire semester of credit every three months, and having four quarters in a year allows students to complete a year and a half of each content area in only 12 months. Students have opportunities to take all their necessary core content classes in English, History, Math, Science, and Spanish, as well as various artistic and specialty classes such as Art and Horticulture.
CAPs:
Our Special Education Coordinator spearheads the Chrysalis Academic Plan, an official accommodations plan for each student, to help the student, parents, teachers, and all Chrysalis staff ensure our students' academic success. As a private institution, we specialize in integrating unique therapeutic needs into the classroom and helping each student learn how she can best achieve her academic goals. We provide scaffolding throughout a student's stay to ensure that when a student arrives, she feels supported, and when she leaves, she feels empowered.
Finding Balance:
Chrysalis students are very bright and need high intellectual rigor. Our teachers specialize in finding the balance between challenging students intellectually while providing therapeutic support to ensure that students are learning at or above their grade level curriculum standards while overcoming their social and emotional challenges.
“We describe Chrysalis as ‘a female empowerment model.’ Young women become engaged academically, emotionally, socially and physically and begin to build a strong identity and sense of self.”
– Referring Educational Consultant
Accreditation
Chrysalis is accredited by the National Independent Private Schools Association (NIPSA). Accreditation is an affirmation of the school’s commitment to self-improvement and educational excellence through bi-annual CORE review. Every five years, the NIPSA board visits to ensure we are meeting or exceeding standards and continually improving our processes to meet the evolving needs of our clients. Chrysalis has been a NIPSA member since 2008.
Chrysalis is licensed and registered with the Montana Health and Human Services department. We have been a Private Alternative Adolescent Residential Program (PAARP), through the state since 2008.
Affiliations
Chrysalis is uniquely aligned with the local public school, Lincoln County High School (LCHS), in Eureka, Montana.
Students are taught on campus by our highly qualified teaching staff at our custom-built schoolhouse, but are enrolled and registered at LCHS to obtain high school credits. LCHS generates our official transcripts and high school diplomas, so if your student graduates while attending Chrysalis, her high school diploma will be awarded by LCHS. The public school also supplements our resources by providing textbooks, science equipment and other materials to help prepare our students for a college environment.
When clinically, academically and socially appropriate, a student can attend the local high school. Girls must attend our campus high school for a minimum of one academic semester before applying to the treatment team to consider public school.