Academics
Where students become success stories
Custom Academic Plan
To help our students achieve success, we create a custom Chrysalis Academic Plan (CAP) for each student. Upon arrival, our academic team develops a specialized schedule with each student to fit their 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 6-8 students. Our goal is to provide an intimate academic setting designed to meet student’s therapeutic needs in the classroom.
Engage Strengths & Interests
State-licensed and certified teachers use creative and advanced techniques for every core class. Our teachers find ways to engage students' 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. Our academic advisors look at realistic plans for students’ futures, and help 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
Many of our students come to Chrysalis with a history of academic challenges. Each school day has structured time focused on students' building executive function skills. To help a student discover that they 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 licensed and state-certified for all core subjects.
We are NIPSA and Cognia accredited. Additionally, we are an approved SEVP school to serve international students.
Year-Round School
Students often come to Chrysalis needing some credit recovery 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 Music, Art and Horticulture.
Chrysalis Academic Plans:
Our Special Education Coordinator creates and implements the Chrysalis Academic Plan, an official accommodations plan for each student. This plan is meant 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 to best achieve their academic goals. We provide scaffolding throughout a student's stay to ensure that when a student arrives, they feel supported, and upon departure, they feel 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 also providing therapeutic support. This ensures our students are learning at or above their grade level curriculum standards while also 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 Department Public Health and Human Services department.
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.