The Hunterdon Learning Center is a private day school for adolescents who have received eligibility for full time special services by their sending school districts.  Most of the students have a history of behavioral and learning difficulties that have interfered with social and academic development. 

Although an  individualized program of academic instruction is carefully planned for each student, the primary focus of the educational program centers on addressing emotional growth and behavior change.

The Hunterdon Learning Center is designed as a therapeutic community to provide an integrated educational experience for its members.  Group and individual counseling and a wide range of extra-curricular activities provide opportunities to experience, discuss, and change social and behavioral responses.  Staff members and students are expected to work together to create a healthy supportive school community that requires everyone to receive and assume responsibility for its maintenance.  All community business and activities are carefully structured to instill a sense of mission, cooperation, and value among its members.

Programs and activities at the Hunterdon Learning Center are designed to be therapeutic as well as educational.  Coursework is designed to create stimulating and successful learning experiences while developing subject matter mastery.  Teachers, administrators, and counselors work as a team to promote behavior change and raise students’ confidence in their ability to succeed.  

Classroom instruction and counseling activities are integrated to help students set goals and gain the social and academic skills and information necessary to reach them.

In summary, although development of academic and employable skills is considered critical at the Hunterdon Learning Center, the primary focus throughout a student’s placement centers on changing undesirable behavior and developing self-discipline and social responsibility.  The entire educational effort seeks to increase students’ sense of personal value, self- confidence, self-control, personal reliability, and pride in belonging to a cooperative community that thrives because its members actively care about each other.