Academic Environment

Discovery Academy is a clinical boarding school, not a psychiatric care facility with a separate school. Discovery Academy is licensed by the State of Utah as a Residential Treatment Program and the Academy is fully accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.

Discovery Academy is a coed program where boys and girls are separated for both academic and therapeutic reasons. Class sizes are small with roughly a 1 to 12 instructor to student ratio. All of our teachers hold current teaching licenses and meet the requirements of the Utah State Office of Education. Most of our instructors hold Masters Degrees in Education. Three have Special Education Certifications and two specialize in Advanced Placement curriculum.

One thing that sets Discovery Academy apart from most other schools in the nation is our educational curriculum, which runs from 2:30 in the afternoon to 8:30 at night. We have found that by burning off some of the excess energy throughout the early part of the day, our students are more focused on their studies. The success of this program is evident in the fact that both our SAT and ACT scores are above the national average.

The educational model developed by Discovery Academy is a unique and progressive competency based, tutorial system that has been time-tested for over thirteen years. Students enter Discovery Academy with an academic history that has been disrupted by emotional and behavioral issues. Discovery Academic model can accommodate the differences in each student and provide them with an avenue to find academic success.

Many students arrive having failed certain academic subjects (e.g. Math, English, Social Studies, etc.) and some are behind a grade. At Discovery Academy, we teach the student according to ability and current academic level. The student is responsible to establish their own rate of progress. However, teachers and therapeutic staff keep a watchful eye to assure achievement. Students are measured against themselves, not against other students. This educational model has resulted in effective learning. We have also found that as destructive behavior patterns subside, learning can often be accelerated to catch a student up or push them ahead into AP classes. Although the students are involved in an individualized education plan, there are the necessary group and interactive classes to meet the social needs of each student.

The effectiveness of Discovery Academy's model is demonstrated through individual success as well as ACT & SAT average scores as shown below.

Test Scores (Averages)