Beacon High School is a fully accredited, co-educational alternative high school program that provides academic and specialized programs in a therapeutic environment to 60 students, ages 14–22 from the Greater Boston area. Typical Beacon High students have shown academic promise during earlier school years but have experienced events in their lives that render traditional educational programs inadequate.
High school can be an extremely difficult time for many adolescents, but this awkward period can become unmanageable when further complicated by learning disabilities, emotional or behavioral problems, or the onset of mental illness—problems that manifest in such signs as depression, alcohol and/or drug abuse, impulsiveness, school phobias, anxiety, and/or attention problems.
Beacon High students receive an exceptional education with a pre-collegiate curriculum and high standards that challenge them to succeed. All students are required to participate in individual and group therapy sessions, with crisis management always available. Most students are involved in creative arts that vary from printmaking to drama, to the publication of poetry and literary magazines, as well as the performance and composition of classical and popular music.
At Beacon High, we help adolescents such as these who are failing in—and being failed by—traditional high school programs, integrating therapy with learning, in a creative, supportive setting. Beacon High has operated since 1971, formerly as New Perspectives School. As a leader in alternative education, Beacon High has demonstrated extraordinary success—demonstrated in its student retention rate of 80% and its high school graduation rate of 80%.
To see a short video about Beacon High School, click here.
Beacon High School is Chapter 766-approved by the Massachusetts Department of Education.
[top]