Academic Skills Development at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School helps students gain organizational and study skills, as well as brush up on basic math, comprehension, and writing skills. The goal of the program is to help each student reach their greatest potential through the method of a "step-down" series. We will start the students out as freshman with a detailed list of skills to be learned, with the goal of decreasing them gradually through senior year. We aim to teach our students to take the lessons that they learn here, and apply them throughout college and beyond. We the staff, consider the Academic Skills Development (ASD) program to be a form of scaffolding for your child. The dictionary defines the word scaffold as "a temporary structure used to provide support...a supporting framework". We will provide support when needed in order to help our students build their own "permanent" framework and design for learning.

Students with current documented learning disabilities may qualify and register for the ASD program. We allow extended time for testing, as well as offer access to the homework center, and a skill development class during the school day. The ASD program helps to reinforce academic skills, and is very different from the public school programs. Bishop Sullivan does not offer one-on-one instruction, pullout classes, calculators to assist with basic math calculations, or reduction/modification of classwork, homework, projects, tests, papers, or any other academic requirements. Most importantly, our school rule is that no homework,classwork, projects or papers may be turned in after the assigned due date.

Students with attention difficulties may receive monitoring, instruction in organizational skills, and access to the homework center. It is extremely important that parents understand that registering for the ASD program is no guarantee for academic success. We are here to guide the students in the skills that they need in order to make the best grades that they can achieve. Ultimately, the work must be done by them in order to do well academically. As a reminder to parents, incoming freshman who register to take part in this program must register for a study hall class to be devoted to academic assistance and study skills, and no more than five academic subjects (there may be exceptions to the rule). In addition, freshman should come to the after school homework center for at least thirty minutes, two days a week.

Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School is a college preparatory institution, and the academic demands and responsibilities on students are great. We also encourage parents to consider whether they believe that their child, as a freshman, can meet the rigorous academic demands in addition to attending athletic practices and games. If your child fills out his or her planner completely, correctly completes homework nightly, actively listens and takes notes in class, and reviews the material for each class nightly, he or she should be ahead of the game. Our students spend an average of two and a half hours studying and completing homework each night (thirty minutes for each subject).

The skills that we teach are helpful, but we are not a substitute for homework completion or test preparation. Students and their families also receive consultative support on issues related to academic performance, such as referrals for updated educational testing, tutoring services, and summer workshops. We also can point out how to access free educational testing through the local public school system and military hospitals. Please note that there are guidelines which must be met in order to be eligible to register for the Academic Skills Development program.

We are happy to help, if you have any questions or concerns please call us at 467-2881, ext. 1032.