Academics

Academics at Hillside are centered on our belief that every student’s learning potential must be identified, unlocked, and maximized. Our 4:1 student teacher ratio and small class sizes allow for differentiated and personalized instruction. Academics are intentionally designed for a spectrum of learning styles -- from complex and accelerated classes, to programs designed for international ESL students, to coursework that supports bright boys with particular areas of learning difficulty. The traditional classroom cannot meet the the varying needs of a wide-range of learning styles and therefore, in many academic settings, students who require extra support -- or additional challenge -- suffer. Hillside is equipped and designed to guide each boy to the level of academic success that he is capable of achieving and, in the process, give him the strategies to excel in secondary school and beyond.

One of the key characteristics of Hillside academic life is our shared commitment to explicitly teaching boys to learn how to learn. By the time these same boys are in high school, they will have already established habits of learning. While most schools simply assume that boys will somehow pick up note-taking and research, for example, we recognize that such a hands-off approach can lead to long-term inefficiencies. At Hillside, we embrace the responsibility for actively teaching our boys how to take notes, how to read a text, how to study, and how to research -- so that when they graduate, they are genuinely and deeply prepared to tackle the challenges of their future learning.

At Hillside, our primary academic goal is to graduate students who have the skills to move confidently forward into a world in which the process of learning will never end.