Extended Academic Services

Additional academic instruction available to students is designed to help them address and overcome individual learning difficulties. Teaching and special education staff take into account learning styles, multiple intelligences, and other issues that affect learning, and use a combination of professional and peer tutoring to help students develop the study habits and skills they need now and for their future academic and career success. For students who continue to struggle, one-on-one tutoring is provided by the teaching staff with expertise in those areas in which the student is having difficulty.  

Many troubled teens perform far below their academic potential. Their emotional and behavioral difficulties and destructive relationships impair their ability to focus and learn, and many are classified as learning disabled. About 30 percent of our students are in this category, and our Extended Academic Services program meets their needs with a range of support mechanisms. These include:

- Testing and evaluation of individual student needs based on admissions information and subsequent performance in the classroom. 

- P.A.S.S. (Personal Academic Student Services), a highly effective peer tutoring program in which students who have mastered certain areas of learning are teamed with students who are struggling in those areas. 

- Professional tutoring provided by teachers with subject knowledge and proven success in one-on-one instruction. 

Our Extended Academic Services director, certified in special education, works continually with teachers, tutors, and heads of houses to update students' individual academic plans based on their academic progress and current needs.

Extended Academic Services Staff

Robert Kern Extended Academic Services Director

B.A. History, Stony Brook University
M.A. Inclusive Secondary Education, Hofstra University
New York State Certification in Special Education

Rob joined The Family Foundation School staff in August 2011 as director of the school's Extended Academic Services program, assisting students in need of tutoring and other learning support. He also teaches FFS English classes. Off campus he enjoys sailing and snowboarding. Rob and his fiancee Jade live in Binghamton, N.Y.