Skip to main content

International Boarding School Educates Struggling Students From Around The World

 By Stephen C. Schultz


“English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment, and education – sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.” ~ E.B. White


Oxbow Academy, a flagship Residential Treatment Center and Boarding School, enrolls students aged 10-17 and provides an excellent educational opportunity for foreign students who would benefit from an international experience. Oxbow specializes in providing academic and therapeutic services to bright underachievers who may also struggle with depression, anxiety, and problematic sexual behavior (PSB) issues. Many students may lack the emotional maturity or grades necessary to be accepted into a top-tier U.S. boarding school. Foreign students can graduate from Oxbow Academy with an accredited high school diploma and transition directly to American universities. Oxbow Academy has been certified through SEVIS to issue Forms I-20 and maintain current F-1/M-1 student records. This approval first occurred in 2006.



In standard academic systems around the world, time is the constant and learning is the variable. In other words, students begin the year and systematically move through the curriculum. At various times throughout the year, exams are given, and grades are earned based on the student’s learning. Time is the constant, and learning is the variable.

At Oxbow Academy, time is the variable, and learning is the constant. Oxbow utilizes a competency-based learning system. The core curriculum from each subject is broken into learning chapters. The student must learn and demonstrate competency in each chapter before moving on to the next. For example, when a student completes a chapter in 10th-year Chemistry, they then take a test on that concept. The expectation is that the student demonstrates at least 80% proficiency before moving to the next chapter. If they score below 80%, they go back and continue studying the material until they can pass with 80% or higher.


This system ensures that learning remains the constant while time becomes the variable. At Oxbow Academy, students have the ability to progress through the curriculum at a personalized pace. Some subjects may take less time, while others require more. Students learn how to learn and become aware of their academic strengths and weaknesses.

When luck is not an option, this academic system allows families from around the world to access a first-rate education, as well as emotional support and therapeutic treatment for teens who are struggling. When learning, competency, and self-motivation matter, Oxbow Academy is the right choice.

Oxbow Academy has enrolled students from the following countries: the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, France, the Netherlands, Dubai, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and Singapore, to name a few.

Labels:

Comments

Lon Woodbury said…
"time is the constant and learning is the variable"

What a marvelous way of describing the standard approach to education. When I was in the classroom, I saw very closely one of the consequences of this mind set. I found that in my classroom, I was teaching to the middle. That is, those quick to understand were bored, and those slower to understand were overwhelmed and confused. But, with the rigid time schedule, the best I could hope for would be to help the middle third.

Lon
November 18, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rocky Landscape of Teen Sexuality

 By Stephen C. Schultz (Editor's note: This is a very sensitive subject and may be uncomfortable to read. The information in this post is essentially focused on schools and therapeutic programs that have a residential component.) The chairs were all in a half-circle. There must have been over fifty, all filled with students. Banners from various colleges and universities hung from the rafters. The dull roar of multiple conversations, all happening simultaneously, cut through the air and echoed off the walls. I stood in front of the crowd and waited. The conversations and dull roar slowly faded, like a train disappearing into the distance. All eyes were now on me. I asked one question: “Who can tell me what grooming is?” I have spent my career working with families and teens through some very difficult times. I am a partner in a specialty care facility called Oxbow Academy. Oxbow specializes in treating teenage boys from across the globe who are burdened with the socially sensi...
5 comments
Read more

Lessons I learned from a childhood experience with bullying

By Stephen C. Schultz The dew around the window was starting to bead up. In a classic case of chaos theory, the little beads of water gave way to gravity and randomly bounced and bumped their way to the window sill like a steal marble in a pinball game. There was a small pool of water in the cracked and peeling beige paint. I sat facing the window, staring at the small engraved stone nestled in the flower beds. There weren’t many flowers at this time of year. Mostly rhododendrons and Oregon grapes reaching skyward from the damp bark mulch that covered the planter area.   The month of January in Eugene Oregon was filled with days and days of mist and fog.   In fact, pretty much from October through June was filled with fog, rain, mist, showers, freezing rain and occasionally snow. The local weathermen didn’t bother with predictions about the chance of precipitation; they took pride in developing new adjectives to describe the type of precipitation and how much you can...
10 comments
Read more

The Young Boy and the Rattlesnake

By Stephen C. Schultz (Editors note: This is a story used in a Wilderness Treatment Program. Many come to this program having struggled with depression, anxiety and substance use.)   Many years ago there was a young Native American who lived in the very land you are residing in. He decided to seek wisdom by journeying to the top of Indian Peak. As he approached the base of the mountain he came across a rattlesnake that slithered beside him. The snake coiled as if to strike and the young boy moved back quickly in fear of being struck by the snake’s deadly venom. At that instant the snake spoke to the boy saying, “Don’t be afraid of me, I mean you no harm. I come to you to ask a favor. I see that you are about to traverse to the top of Indian Peak and was hoping that you may be willing to place me in your satchel so that I don’t have to make the long journey alone.” The young boy surprised by the snake’s request quickly responded by turning down the offer, stating, ...
5 comments
Read more