Our Program
The curriculum at Focus Academy is structured with dual purposes: academic achievement​ and social success. Many students are scholastically capable but are hindered by struggles in dealing with peers. We offer differentiated, individualized instruction, but emphasize a full high school experience including creative arts, physical education and state of the art technology.

Academic achievement based on student abilities and interests

Differentiated, personalized instruction

Community-based instruction and experiences

Emphasis on increasing independence

Relationship building

State of the art technology

Creative arts including art and music

Computer coding and culinary arts

Drama therapy

Sports and fitness

A full high school experience

Transition Program for workplace training and life skills

​Based on careful research on how adolescents and young adults learn best, the Focus Academy school day begins at 8:45 a.m. Students attend academic classes in the morning, break for lunch, then spend the afternoon in a variety of electives. Brain breaks are interspersed throughout the day. The school day ends at 3:45 p.m.

​Via Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strategies, personalized learning opportunities are designed to maximize the engagement and progress of every Focus student. UDL enables our education team to design learning experiences in ways that provide students with multiple means of engagement, representations of content, and ways to demonstrate knowledge. These UDL opportunities are aligned with what research supports about learning and the human brain. They optimize the three important networks of the brain: the affective, which processes the “why” of learning; recognition, which processes the “what”; and strategic, which processes the “how.” In offering lessons that cover all three networks, Focus Academy teachers maximize student learning.

​Focus Academy utilizes the Access Points curriculum, a modified curriculum which tailors instruction to each student’s academic level and goals. This curriculum choice also allows for more flexibility in teaching — as well as in learning. Students participate in State testing at the end of each year utilizing the Florida Alternative Assessment. End of Course exams are also administered as required.

​Rigorous academics are an important part of the curriculum at Focus Academy. Students are regularly assessed to gauge their progress in subject areas. Reading and math scores routinely gain an average of one to one and a half grade levels over the course of the year at Focus Academy. In many cases, students have remained at the same grade level in both of these subject areas for years without any progress at their previous schools.