The on-campus Muir Wood Learning Centers — one per program — are year-round supplemental education programs that teens attend Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. till noon. Our Learning Centers are comprised of Master’s-level, credentialed state of California teachers.
A Supplemental Education Program
The Learning Centers are supplemental education programs for grades 7 to 12, including physical education. Muir Wood is one of few residential treatment centers with an academic program that is recognized by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Muir Wood Learning Centers undergo an objective evaluation by a team of outside peer professionals trained by WASC. Recognition by WASC signifies that our Learning Centers are worthy of the trust placed in them to provide high-quality learning. Our programs are dedicated to continual self-improvement. We are student-oriented and we examine our students’ performance continually.
Academic Options
Home School Collaboration
One option is for your child’s school of record to provide independent study work while they are with us. This option ensures a smooth transition back to the teen’s school upon discharge from Muir Wood. It is each parent’s or guardian’s responsibility to coordinate an independent study program with the school of record. Our teachers can help facilitate the transfer of schoolwork and support your child’s academic achievement. Parents often act as a liaison between the Muir Wood Learning Center, our teachers, and their teen’s home school. We also encourage parents to bring their child’s textbooks with them at the time of admission.
Accredited Online Learning Program
A second option to keep teens on their academic track while at Muir Wood is to enroll them in an accredited online learning program. Our teachers, along with your child’s school of record, can collaborate in selecting the appropriate, and most advantageous coursework to help ensure that they are academically productive while in residence at Muir Wood. Typically, it is our teacher’s recommendation that parents or guardians enroll their children in one course at a time to ensure that they are successful in this method of learning before taking on additional classes. It also allows the teens to focus on the primary reason why they were admitted to Muir Wood—healing their behavioral health and/or substance abuse issues.
Muir Wood Learning Center’s Objective
Our objective is to provide a safe and supportive learning environment where your child has the opportunity to be academically engaged and productive while maintaining continuity with the home school while in treatment. Supervised access to computers and the internet is intended for academic work only, and available only during class hours. Each week our teachers email parents a Weekly Academic Report that summarizes your child’s use of class time for the prior week. Upon arrival at Muir Wood, your child will be given a casework binder with therapeutic assignments to be completed during their stay with us. The assignment in the therapy binder may be worked on in class, in addition to their assigned schoolwork.
*Please note: Muir Wood is not a high school and can not issue credits or grades.
“Recognition by WASC is a milestone for our organization. We always strive to go above and beyond for the teens and families we serve at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services. Our organization is not only recognized by WASC, but our clinical program is also accredited by the Joint Commission, licensed by DHCS and certfied by DSS in the State of California, and in-network with most major large insurance providers. Our goal has always been to make exceptional care accessible.” – Scott Sowle, Founder and CEO
Scott Sowle, Founder & CEO
These are photos of a boys classroom session. Girls use similar facilities at their respective campuses.
