mySEA
Donate

Supporting All Learners

At Saint Edmond’s Academy, we understand that each student is unique, bringing to our community a set of strengths, interests, and needs and that it is our mission to meet each student where they are academically and support them to fully realize their potential. 

We are proud of our rich tradition of supporting students with learning differences to thrive in an inclusive and rigorous learning environment. Just as Saint Andre Bessett opened the door for so many in the Holy Cross tradition, we aspire to open the door to each learner through two main educational support programs. 

Reading Intervention

Our Lower Form reading intervention program provides students with instruction in early literacy skills at each student’s targeted level.  Research shows that students who receive early literacy support can meet and exceed grade-level expectations as they grow. Reading intervention is offered to students in grades kindergarten through four who score below grade level on the Acadience Benchmark assessment, an early literacy skills assessment given to all lower-form students.

Our reading specialist then uses benchmark data, diagnostic student data, and the student’s educational history to create intensive and targeted instruction. Students participate in individualized or small group instruction research-based strategies tailored to their specific needs. The students set short-term goals, participate in lessons and monitor their progress through end-of-unit assessments.

Reading intervention works to help students develop an awareness of sounds, word parts, decoding, and how to write and recognize words. The student participates in integrated, explicit, scaffolded, and systematic instruction of reading skills. Through our intervention program, students work to develop the foundational reading skills needed to participate in our literary-rich curriculum.

Andre Program

At Saint Edmond’s Academy, we believe in educating the whole child.  We recognize that every student deserves the opportunity to learn in a way that sparks and fuels what is inside them.  In other words, every student has their own uniqueness, and it is our job as educators to help them discover and develop their potential.

The Andre Team consists of the Principal, the Director of Educational Support Services, Andre teachers, and faculty. The Andre Program helps students with diagnosed  mild learning differences in grades 4 through 8.  Such diagnoses can include attention deficits, auditory processing, reading, and math disabilities. The level of support a student receives through the Andre Program varies depending on his needs. A fee-based program, the Andre program provides support through small group meetings, enrichment programs, and after-school help.  The staff also provides additional support to all students with a regular presence in the classroom setting

In order to be considered for the Andre Program at St. Edmond’s Academy the following criteria must be met:

  • Current documentation within three years; may consist of a psycho-educational evaluation, an Individual Education Plan (IEP), or a 504 Plan
  • Classroom observation of student by a member of the Andre Team
  • Meeting with Andre Team, parents, and child


If accepted into the Andre Program the following criteria is required:

  • Signed contract outlining the level of support within the Andre Program
  • Action Plan detailing the educational accommodations based upon the student’s individual diagnosed and documented special learning needs
  • Payment of Andre Program fee

Meeting the needs of our students is paramount. In his letter, Blessed Father Moreau went on to discuss the importance of educating the whole child and taught his teachers that “the mind would not be taught at the expense of the heart.”  Supporting all learners through the robust support provided in this program is just one of the ways we live out the words of our founders.

“It will do little good to use the same procedures in working with every student. The teacher would be like a doctor who always gave the same remedy for every illness. This in itself should be enough to point out the importance of beginning the year by studying your students.”
-Blessed Basil Moreau, 1862