“Students come to Bridges defined by their challenges and labels. They leave defined by their abilities and accomplishments.”
-Carl Sabatino, Head of School
Accepting Applications for 2023!
Bridges Academy has a 25-year history of educating twice-exceptional (2e) children and has adapted its highly effective model for the online space. Our high school program became accessible to 2e learners, across the country, with the enrollment of our inaugural cohort for the 2021-22 academic year.
Our strength-based, talent-focused model develops students’ intellectual, academic, and social-emotional skills as they engage in creative and meaningful work that paves the way to higher education and future careers.
Program Highlights
- Small synchronous learning cohorts
- Highly experienced faculty in twice-exceptional education
- Broad offerings of core college-prep courses (Univ. of California A–G approved for high school courses)
- Talent development opportunities
- Academic support structures build executive functioning and hone critical thinking
- Advisory sessions to support social-emotional understanding and self-regulation
- Week-long, community-building residencies
- “Young Expert Program” facilitates deep dives into areas of passion and interest
- World group travel opportunities
- Team planning meetings promote a robust school-family partnership
- College guidance program available
Program Pillars
Academic Core
Our core sequence covers students’ high school requirements in math, science, humanities, foreign language, and physical education. Our high school courses are University of California A–G approved, which secures eligibility for colleges and universities. Each discipline has a four-year scope and sequence that covers required high school content and skills, emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of all knowledge.
Classes are highly differentiated, giving students opportunities to engage with class materials in multiple modes and demonstrate understanding of new knowledge in a way that is consistent with their cognitive strengths. The program employs a modified block schedule, influenced by a Copernican framework. Students take two to three subjects per five-week rotation, focusing on two or three classes at a time to enable students to delve deeply into the content and skills of the discipline and develop the habits and routines of a successful student.
Academic Support and Advisory
All students need support. Whether it is to promote growth in a specific area, to help navigate complex social interactions, or to cultivate strengths, interests, or gifts, our Academic and Advisory (ASA) program provides students with the support they need to reach their full potential. Students meet in ASA with their advisor regularly each week for guidance related to their workload, social and emotional development, and other critical aspects of their educational experience.
Young Expert Program
Twice-exceptional students often have strong interests and passions that make them well suited for advanced work. The Young Expert Program invites students in grades 10-12 to dive deeply into a chosen subject area, developing a substantial fund of knowledge and valuable real-world skills that could provide pathways to continued work in higher education and/or future careers.
Under close guidance from faculty coaches and mentors, students design their own courses of study, maturing into self-driven learners as they absorb complex and expansive information, identify and solve problems, and poise themselves to make original contributions to their fields of interest. The scope of all badge work must involve explicit interdisciplinary awareness, resulting in a thorough, expert-level coverage of the topic and/or area of exploration.
Talent Development Opportunities
Our talent development opportunities acquaint students with fields such as art, drama, film, debate, creative writing, computer programming and many others. Bridges does not consider talent development opportunities as “extra” or “add-on” courses, but as vital learning experiences that complement the high school program as a whole. Talent development opportunities provide a setting in which students’ interests drive content mastery, skill-building, and creative production. Sometimes a talent development opportunities is an area of talent as well as interest and can guide college and career decisions. Students who demonstrate particular talent in an area can pursue a customized talent development plan with a faculty mentor.
