Ridge Creek Academic Strategies

The academic curriculum at Ridge Creek School is challenging. Of that, there should be no doubt. However, the faculty at RCS is dedicated to the success of each and every student that enters the classroom, and we have developed unique and proven methods and programs to aid in the realization of this goal. Unlike "traditional" schools, at RCS we have students entering the classroom from different walks of life with different levels of competence and abilities throughout the year. Our small teacher-to-student ratio enables us to thoroughly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the incoming student and place them in the appropriate class on the proper academic path.

Honors Programs

For students that are excelling in academics prior to entering RCS or after attending for a time, we offer a variety of options for rapid advancement. Ridge Creek has always offered accelerated honors classes. Now, in addition, we offer internet classes for college credit through the University of Nebraska. Students that qualify for this exciting and important opportunity will "attend" on-line classes taught by college professors and facilitated by teachers educated in the particular discipline in order to earn valuable credits for college.

Executive Functioning Skills (EFS)

In addition, all incoming students are given the opportunity to add invaluable tools to their academic tool box through our Executive Functioning Skills (EFS) classes. This course unit is designed to provide the student with a "study plan of action" that can be applied in all subject areas in high school and beyond. Ridge Creek’s EFS curriculum comprehensively covers many basic skill necessities, such as:

Memorization— For example, using acronyms to help students memorize information--the "crazier the phrase," the better. If a student is non-verbal, then, perhaps a cartoon is in order.
Cognitive Flexibility— Improve cognitive flexibility by working with riddles and jokes to help students shift between word meanings. In math, students are encouraged to ask themselves: "do I know another way to solve this problem, does this look similar to other problems I have seen, and is this problem the same or different from the one before it?"
Prioritizing—Designed to help students prioritize information, teach students to listen to the teacher’s intonation during lectures. Also, students can highlight the most important ideas in a text in one color and details in another color.
Note-taking—Designed to help students prioritize and remember information. Students learn to take 3-column notes: the first column contains one word that is the core concept, the second column contains the details supporting the concept, the third column contains the strategy the student will use to remember the information. When taking notes from text, students can use a 2-column approach. In the first column, students ask themselves questions about the text, and they put the answers in the second column.
Self-Monitoring and Self-Checking— Designed to help students check their work by the following: 1) Provide explicit checklists for assignments, so students know what to check for, and 2) Help students develop personalized checklists, so they become aware of and check for their most common errors. As a final step, students can make their own acronyms to remind themselves of their personal error traps.

These and many other essential skills and strategies are taught as part of our effort to address the needs of the "whole" child. We are dedicated to ensuring, as our college acceptance rate will support, that each RCS student has every available advantage for success. Our faculty and staff are determined to create life-long learners and productive, compassionate adults.

Academic Support

For the student struggling with a class, or classes due, to therapeutic and/or learning gap issues, RCS provides several extra hours of "Academic Support" each day. For the conscientious child struggling academically, we offer two hours of academic support every week day afternoon. During these one-on-one sessions, for which the student volunteers, the student has intensive tutorial access to the instructors in classes in which the student may be struggling. Further, for students who are falling behind academically due to therapeutic or disciplinary issues, we have "Mandatory Academic Support", which includes the aforementioned time with the instructor, as well as a two hour evening study period in a quiet and monitored study area. Students in "Mandatory Academic Support" have many of their on and off campus privileges limited in order to give their academics priority over sports and other activities.

Learning Center

At Ridge Creek we maintain a learning center for children with specific learning impediments staffed by a master’s level professional in special education. Students with true learning needs are given the time and attention that their academic growth demands. In the RCS learning center students focus on specific skill development as opposed studying "watered down" content for misleading grades. These students are integrated into the general classroom with accommodations determined by their specific needs. Communication is key in these cases, and at Ridge Creek the entire academic faculty meets each week to discuss the needs of these students. Many times, tests and/or assignment materials are provided by the teacher in the particular discipline to the learning center instructors, to be taken in the fashion prescribed by the needs of the child. This, in most cases, keeps the child socializing with, and feeling a part of, the school as a whole and helps prevent embarrassment, while building self-esteem, confidence, and skill levels.

At Ridge Creek School our academic curriculum is designed to prepare each student for college and beyond and, as such, it is demanding and rigorous. However, as can be seen, we are determined to help each student achieve and meet these standards to the very best of their ability.