The Progressions School

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The Progressions School has been providing quality educational services for over 10 years. We are located in Pottstown, PA, and operate under license by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as an independent Private Alternative School. We assist eleven school districts located throughout Chester, Eastern Montgomery, and Berks counties. We welcome visitors anytime.
 

Educational Focus
 

We offer small class size and low teacher-student ratios to address individual student learning styles. Although always flexible to meet individual needs, we follow research-based instructional practices and curriculum materials. We believe firmly in regular and objective measurement of academic progress and involvement of parents, care-givers in that process.  In the classroom, we seek to utilize a differentiated curriculum and instructional methodology that replicates what the student will face as they return to their home district. We maintain regular linkage and communication with the referring local school district and consider ourselves to be an “inclusive friendly” alternative school. We frequently measure our progress by successfully placing students back into their home districts and communities and their own network of peers and recreational/leisure, or extra-curricular options.
 

Positive Behavior Support and Counseling Services
 

As with all of the behavioral health related services offered within the The Progressions Companies, we seek to utilize and draw upon the child’s natural strengths and the family’s available resources. We view our school as part of a natural continuum of treatment and educational services within least-restrictive and community-based settings.  During the first weeks at the school a thorough observation and Functional Behavioral Assessment process begins and is constantly monitored.  This process culminates within the first month with a Positive Behavior Plan that identifies measurable behaviors to be addressed with realistic and practical solutions. We admit, our initial attempts at behavioral progress are not always successful but we are firm in our commitment to work collaboratively with the student, parent or care-giver to achieve behavioral progress. We regularly draw upon the expertise of our own network of consulting psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed social workers and professional counselors, and feel their collaboration allows us to work with students that have had difficulties in other settings. Our students are seen weekly for one individual and at least two group counseling sessions that usually focus on a psycho-educational topic or social-skill development. Our staff meets regularly with students to identify positive behavioral goals, review practical strategies, and give objective and supportive feedback. Our approach is not punishment oriented and we emphasize Positive Behavior Support to increase student success in both home/community and school. Behavioral goals are reviewed at least monthly and recurrent or emergent issues are measured daily through the use of point sheets and/or a level system of reinforcement that tracks and monitors behavioral progress. Our school is committed to working collaboratively with parents, family members and local counseling/social-service agencies as part of our overall treatment team.

Transitional Support
 

Progressions School is committed to helping exceptional students with emotional and behavioral challenges to identify and work toward future goals. When appropriate, our older students have partnered with local employers to provide realistic job training experiences. We network with local technical schools and community colleges to augment our curriculum when needed and in the best interest of our older students who plan on transitioning to post-secondary educational settings. We seek to provide a rich educational experience that sparks interest and exposure to future career and educational options for all of our students. In many instances our students struggle in seeing how learning relates to the future or have low-self appraisal that results in not being able to see realistic options that exist. Our goal is to make all education relevant to a student’s individual career aspirations and help them to chart an attainable path. For most students, this means returning them to their home districts in as short a time period as possible with a variety of practical and applicable behavioral and instructional strategies for both now and their future. We actively seek the collaboration in this process of parents and local agencies and have enjoyed fantastic support of local educational administrators who facilitate or coordinate the transition back to the home school district.

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