Christian Residential Boarding School Success Rates | School for Teens in Crisis Julian Youth Academy

OUR SUCCESS RATES

Julian Youth Academy has been in operation as a Christian Residential Boarding School for troubled teens since 1993. JYA provides education and life skills training to over 300 families. A master's thesis was recently completed with JYA as the focus program. The thesis followed up with former students and surveyed them regarding the impact JYA made upon their life in a time of turmoil and self-destructive behavior.

Dramatic success was reported in the following areas:

There were major reductions in at-risk behaviors.

Family relationships were restored and repaired.

Conflicts still occurred but the parent and teen were able to resolve them easier.

Communication skills developed.

The program increased maturity levels.

Rebellion against parents and other authority figures decreased significantly.

Students were able to choose healthy relationships with others.

Academic achievement was improved.

There was an overall reduction of criminal behavior and law enforcement involvement.

Students had success replacing self-centered behavior with a sense of accomplishment, self-worth, and responsibility.

Students reduced drug and alcohol use.

For more details and specifics regarding the basis for these successful findings and results, parents can view the report here. Please note that this information is copyright protected.

Many parents who are considering enrolling their child in our program want concrete statistics about JYA students' success. However, numbers like these are often misleading due to the various definitions people have of "success." To answer this question honestly, how well a child does during and after the program depends tremendously on the parents, and their level of commitment to the program. Generally speaking, if the parents are invested in their daughter's success and are open to the skills taught to them in the parent training seminars, their daughter will have a much higher chance of succeeding. This often involves making changes at home based on JYA's advice. If the parents are not committed to the program and fail to listen to JYA's advice, their child will most likely continue to rebel.

That being established, if JYA was asked to give very general statistics concerning the success rate, they would probably be along the following lines. The girls who turn out excellent and are complete success stories make up 7-10% of our students. The ones who clearly do not succeed are also about 7-10%. The other 80-86% will graduate as a much happier person and be more successful because of JYA. To list a few of the advantages, they will have fewer hostile confrontations, better conflict management skills, a better ability to set and keep boundaries with others, a much more positive outlook on life, an ability to forgive, and basic life skills such as budget management.

The majority of girls that ultimately benefit from the program generally go through a series of phases after they leave JYA. The first year after JYA, the girls generally tend to test what they learned by rebelling. During the second year, the girls usually begin to see that the principles they learned at JYA were worthwhile, and they begin to think about changing their life. However, the third year is when the girls really begin to change for the better. If you would like to read more in depth about this, you can reference the master's thesis on JYA in which this pattern is examined more thoroughly.

There are several other factors that also affect the girls' success rate. The girls who become serious Christians are able to turn their lives around much more successfully because they have found a purpose for their life. This sense of purpose and hope are undeniably large factors for the girls who succeed. However, JYA leaves this decision up to the girls to make, and the staff members do not apply any pressure in this area. The students' success also depends on how early during their behavioral problem that they enter the program. If they are enrolled at JYA before a serious problem begins, the girls will be more willing to accept our guidance and implement the strategies that JYA teaches them.

All these variables are what make it difficult for JYA to give a concrete success rate. The growing and learning is never over for the girls. The parents will also continue to grow and to learn, which will also support the child's progress.