Student Profile
Our goal is to enroll students whose needs are in sync with our program, a program designed for gifted and highly-gifted students with nonverbal learning differences, organizational challenges or other issues such as attention deficit disorder, auditory or visual processing problems, dysgraphia; or gifted and highly-gifted students who have simply not been able to "fit" in a typical classroom. In short, we serve very bright, complex students who learn differently. The Bridges student marches to the beat of a different drummer.
Most of our student applications contain psycho-educational testing revealing a distinct "Bridges profile." Subtests within this evaluation often show marked discrepancies. It is not unusual to see tremendous strengths and glaring deficiencies in the same child.
Because Bridges is a college preparatory school, our program necessitates academic test scores generally above grade level in the 7th, 8th and 9th stanines. The majority of our students have test validation as "gifted/highly-gifted." However, the grades of our entering students often do not match the potential shown in these test scores. Their learning issues have caused depressed “averages” and do not accurately reflect their inherent giftedness.
For most Bridges students, early academic successes were followed by monumental difficulties in completing homework, organizing priorities and materials, frustration at not being understood, and boredom from a curriculum that was less than challenging.
Bridges is not able to serve students whose educational differences require substantial daily remediation. Students with verbal learning disabilities such as severe dyslexia are not candidates for Bridges. Neither are students with marked behavioral problems or students who have been asked to leave other institutions because of oppositional or violent behavior. Exceptions may be made for students where a major intervention has been completed and we believe the behavioral issues have been sufficiently addressed and corrected. However, the twice-exceptional requirements must be met before applicants with other issues will be considered.
Bridges students benefit from a small class size, a range of accommodations (see the Accommodations link on our web site under the Program link) and a personal relationship with each teacher who has the ability to engage students with multiple interests and talents. In addition, Bridges Academy students thrive on organizational guidance and social support while developing strong, supportive relationships with peers and adults.
It is the goal of our admissions committee to match students' educational and social needs with our academic program. But because so much of what we are looking for in a student cannot be quantified, every possible effort is made to know, understand, and assess each applicant individually. Key to both Bridges' success and the success of our students is our ability to select applicants that are uniquely suited to our program.