Academics

All adolescents within the facility receive educational diagnostic testing, speech and language screenings,
and as needed, pre-vocation testing, testing for
specific learning differences, and speech, language, and hearing screening. All residents are individually assessed in reference to their academic achievement and potential. If available, their individualized educational plan (IEP) is obtained from their home school, evaluated, and modified as needed, prior to implementation. In order to facilitate appropriate instruction to address deficiencies, each resident is administered the Iowa Test of Achievement within five days of admission.

Aside from educational evaluation and testing, the aim of the educational service is to provide individual tutoring, support the resident's progress in a school curriculum, and also provide educational discovery and diversion activities that stimulate interest in learning, while at the same time, provide diagnostic information as to how the resident responds in a formal classroom setting.

Education activities are offered at minimum 5 days per week and are administered by special education teachers.

The teacher reports school progress in the resident's medical record. The teacher is responsible for producing an educational discharge summary and credit transcript which is placed in the resident's medical record and sent to the home school district, or forwarded to the resident's future placement.