“Average students have hopes and wishes. Confident students have goals and plans.”

At Willow Bend Academy, we major in success by teaching  students the skill of setting academic goals for themselves, then working to achieve them.

Who sets academic goals?

Alumni often report that the most important thing they took from Willow Bend Academy to college is the ability to establish personal goals and complete them. Alumni who are now college students often state that their peers struggle to succeed because they never learned to set their own goals.  They are accustomed to having the instructor establish their goals by way of assignments. (If the teacher didn’t assign it, I shouldn’t bother.) Our graduates have become confident students in college.

Students learn to set their own goals.

With guidance from the faculty, students take responsibility for their learning by setting both long range (annual, monthly, etc) and short range (weekly and daily) goals. The first activity of each day is for students to finalize their academic goals for the day.  Teachers work with each student to ensure that they establish reasonable goals that are challenging, yet achievable.

The faculty strives to lead  students to become confident students with both academic and lifetime goals. Because each teacher works daily with only eight students, specific goals can be achieved at a pace suited to the individual students’ interests and abilities.

Confidence leads to willingness to accept greater challenges.

Often, our new students arrive lacking confidence in their ability to succeed.  Success, however breeds both more success and confidence.  As student gain confidence through success, they willingly take on more challenging course work.