San Pasqual Academy
About This Program
Target Population: Foster Youth attending middle school or high school, 12-17 years old for dependents of Juvenile Court and 18-19 years old for non-minor dependents of Juvenile Court
For children/adolescents ages: 12 – 19
Program Overview
San Pasqual Academy is a residential education campus designed specifically for foster teens, providing a stable, caring home, a quality, individualized education, and the skills needed for independent living. This program is a unique public-private partnership addressing four components of the campus: residential, education, work readiness, and child welfare services.
Program Goals
The goals of the San Pasqual Academy are:
- Prepare for adulthood
- Complete high school
- Learn independent living skills on a daily basis
- Achieve placement stability
- Establish a permanency connection with one or more adult(s)
- Participate in extracurricular activities
Logic Model
The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for San Pasqual Academy.
Essential Components
The essential components of the San Pasqual Academy include:
- Residential - A private company operates the residential program via jurisdictional contract:
- The residential program provides for the care and supervision of up to eight students per family-style home, including the ability for siblings to live together on campus.
- The residential program incorporates:
- Independent living skills opportunities
- Recreational activities on- and off-campus
- Leadership and community building experiences
- Social skills/healthy relationship modeling
- The residential program oversees the campus Health and Wellness Center, which provides comprehensive health services including the scheduling of medical and dental appointments, first aid care, medication administration, and health education programming.
- An intergenerational mentoring program brings SPA students and older adult volunteers (e.g., grandparents) residing on campus together to promote an intergenerational exchange and nurturing connections.
- The Alumni Housing and Aftercare Services component offers Academy graduates with short-term, campus housing, scholarships, and job placement support.
- Education - The local Office of Education operates the on-site high school program:
- The curriculum is based on the state education standards and entrance requirements for the state university systems.
- Individualized education plans (IEPs) are developed for students to prepare them for college and/or career training. Computers with internet access are available in each classroom, and a low student-to-teacher ratio contributes to more personalized student support.
- Extracurricular activities such as student government, local conference athletics, yearbook, clubs, and dances are offered through the school, and career technical education classes such as culinary arts and agriculture are offered in cooperation with private companies.
- Behavioral Health Services – The San Pasqual Outpatient Treatment (SPOT) Program is provided via a jurisdictional contract with a local mental health care agency.
- Program staff coordinate the on-site medication management appointments with a psychiatrist for students open to the SPOT Program.
- The program offers:
- Individual, group and family therapy
- Case management services
- Youth partners and skills trainers
- Aftercare support to access community resources when transitioning from the Academy
- SPOT also co-facilitates the student-led mental health awareness group, Bring Change to Mind, on campus. The group focuses on ending the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness by creating a sense of community, sharing coping strategies and normalizing the use of mental health services.
- Work Readiness – A private company with funding from a local workforce partnership agency, oversees the work readiness program:
- Program support includes:
- Work readiness training
- Paid part-time internships on campus and in the community
- Career exploration
- Networking opportunities
- Career fairs
- A summer “Pre-Employment Traineeship” program provides students ages 12–14 years old an opportunity to earn a stipend for exhibiting positive work behaviors such as punctuality, appropriate attire, positive attitude, productivity, and honesty.
- Financial literacy training, including the basics of financial institutions, budgeting, saving money, as well as understanding interest, loans, and credit, lead to the student opening a bank account.
- Guidance for the Dragon’s Lounge, a student-run coffee, smoothie, and snack bar on campus, creates opportunities for the youth to develop customer service talents, observe market trends to inform sales, and practice leadership and team building skills.
- Child Welfare Services – A team from the local child welfare services is co-located on campus and manages the Juvenile Court’s dependency case for the student and their family:
- A unit of child welfare services social workers, co-located on campus, support reunification and case management services for the students placed at the Academy and their families.
- The CFWB team collaborates with the campus partners and community organizations to ensure the students’ needs are met as well as advocate for them in court.
- Foundation for school – A non-profit, philanthropic organization which provides supplemental support and services at the Academy to improve, empower, and enrich the lives of the students.
- Support for the students to have “normal high school experiences” such as school dances and prom, athletic teams, yearbooks, clubs, field trips, graduation celebrations, scholarships, and support to transition to independent living.
- The Friends also host holiday events and gift giving activities for Academy students.
Program Delivery
Child/Adolescent Services
San Pasqual Academy directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:
- Behavioral health challenges resulting from complex trauma such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, oppositional behavior, interpersonal conflict, and depression
Services Involve Family/Support Structures:
This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: Clinicians on campus may provide conjoint or family therapy, depending on the need of the youth/family.
Recommended Intensity:
Teen Topics can be 30 to 60 minutes per week, depending on the nature of the topic. Youth's length of participation in one-on-one or family therapeutic services will depend on clinical symptoms and goals.
Recommended Duration:
San Pasqual Academy was designed as a long-term placement option for youth in care. Students are able to remain at the Academy until they reunify with their parents, can be placed with a relative or in a resource home, complete high school or reach the age of 18 years old and opt to transition to an independent living situation or to have jurisdiction terminated.
Delivery Settings
This program is typically conducted in a(n):
- Foster / Kinship Care
- Group or Residential Care
Homework
This program does not include a homework component.
Resources Needed to Run Program
The typical resources for implementing the program are:
- Residential facility where children and youth attend school onsite or at another school within the associated district with houses available to be used for family homes.
- Service providers readily available on campus
- Seamless services for youth
- Collaboration between campus partners/providers to arrange services.
Manuals and Training
Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications
Each partner on campus require various minimum qualifications, depending on the program requirements. The types of professionals involved in the different partner agencies include credentialed teachers and principal, trained child welfare services staff; licensed clinicians or interns; licensed medical staff; certified Administrators to run residential program; and professional trainers.
Manual Information
There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.
Training Information
There is not training available for this program.
Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research
The following studies were not included in rating San Pasqual Academy on the Scientific Rating Scale...
Jones, L., & Landsverk, J. (2006). Residential education: Examining a new approach for improving outcomes for foster youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 28(10), 1152–1168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2005.10.015
The purpose of the study was to evaluate The Academy [now called San Pasqual Academy (SPA)] in providing a stable home and comprehensive educational program in preparation for emancipation from the foster care system. Participants were all assigned to The Academy. Measures utilized include the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Youth Self Report (YSR), study-developed surveys, child protection services case files, and school data. Results indicate that preliminary outcomes for the first three graduating classes of The Academy are encouraging relative to other published reports of discharged foster youth. School completion and college attendance rates are higher than the rates reported in most other studies. However, non-college bound graduates on average are reporting low incomes and much flux in their housing and employment situations. Youth are also reporting higher rates of substance use than one would expect to find in the general population, but graduates are not reporting any of the criminal justice involvement or victimization found in other studies of discharged foster youth. Limitations include the lack of a control or matched comparison group. Note: This article was not used in the rating process due to the lack of a control group.
Jones, L. (2008). Adaptation to early adulthood by a sample of youth discharged from a residential education placement. Child & Youth Care Forum, 37(5-6), 241–263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-008-9061-7
The study used a subset of the sample from Jones, L., & Landsverk, J. (2006). The purpose of the study was to assess the outcomes of The Academy [now called San Pasqual Academy (SPA)] for students who graduated from the program. Participants were assigned to The Academy and were compared to retrospective comparison groups. Measures utilized include study-developed questionnaires and interviews. Results indicate that 50% of respondents attended college at some point. Youth reported having 2 or 3 jobs a year with at least one bout of unemployment. Most of the non-college-bound youth reported working in low-wage, unskilled jobs that did not appear to be career-oriented. Almost 75% of former residents had at least one connection to the adult world through school, work, or marriage one year after discharge. This rate had climbed to 96% at the 36-month interview. Respondents reported much lower rates of criminal justice involvement, homelessness, and victimization than found in other studies of discharged foster youth. Limitations include a lack of a control group, the use of retrospective data in comparison groups, a small sample size that affects the ability to demonstrate statistically significant relationships, and the reliability of self-reported data. Note: This article was not used in the rating process due to the lack of a control group.
Additional References
No reference materials are currently available for San Pasqual Academy.
Contact Information
- Takeshi "Tako" Oho
- Title: Program Manager
- Agency/Affiliation: County of San Diego HHSA
- Email: takeshi.oho@sdcounty.ca.gov
- Phone: (760) 233-6068
Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: January 2024
Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: April 2024
Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: April 2012
