Forman School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory school for academically motivated students with identified learning differences such as dyslexia, executive function difficulties, or attention deficits. Our program does not support students with behavioral and emotional difficulties, social communication disorder, or those on the autism spectrum.
Flagship Programs
A suite of boundary-breaking programs
Journey inward with the Cognition and Learning Department.
Forman’s original mission—to be a practical nerve center researching the best teaching approaches for students who learn differently—still drives us. From their first day, all students enter a Cognition and Learning class tailored to their needs and progress through a curricular track designed to help them thrive.
Our Cognition and Learning Department run ongoing professional development too—so all teachers can offer best-in-class instruction and support.
Metacognitive strategies: The empowered brain
This class is intended to cultivate self-awareness in learning and provide students with an introduction to the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to navigate the academic realm of adolescence and beyond. Topics explored include: the goal setting process, metacognition, personal introspection, study strategies, organizational skills, listening and notetaking, and time management.
The course is designed to give students the necessary tools to understand themselves as learners and feel empowered to navigate their own learning, organization, and reflection. Students understand that learning simply does not “happen,” but is rather an “active” process. Additionally, understanding and reflecting on concepts of learning independence, dependence, and interdependence will be discussed.
Reading principles, reading skills, and understanding
The Cognition and Learning Department's reading courses are designed to help students develop reading and word attack skills using an individualized, multi-sensory, phonetic, and sequential approach. The course is taught in a small-group setting with a reading specialist. Additionally, students delve into assistive technology options and resources throughout their time in this course.
To ensure teaching is individualized, Forman's reading specialists are trained in a variety of programs to meet each student's needs. These programs include: Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, and Lindamood-Bell.
Executive Function coaching
Executive Function coaching is an action-oriented partnership between the student and coach that serves as a collaborative learning “lab”—plus a catalyst for sustained cognitive changes and performance enhancement.
Here, students develop an understanding of self, their strengths, and EF difficulties. Working 1:1 with a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, they'll learn to understand themselves, their strengths, and EF challenges. Students set short and long term goals, create action steps, anticipate roadblocks, and design approaches to manage performance-related challenges—with current coursework as a reference.
Coaching provides non-judgmental structure, support, and accountability.
Venture into new worlds through Winterim.
This experiential education program—running for two weeks every February and March—plunges the entire Forman community into immersive learning adventures. Winterim’s options are ever-changing (there are almost 30 available): think environmental documentary-making in Patagonia, cultural immersion in Spain, an expedition tracing the US Civil Rights Trail, classes in op-ed journalism, and college tours of America’s Northeast.
A project in the rainforest with global impact
Founded in 1992, Forman’s Rainforest Project is (an optional) part of the science curriculum. Students take a seven-month tropical ecology class, before a life-changing expedition to Costa Rica. They develop research skills, unearth new information on endangered species—Forman holds multiple US patents—and find alternative, sustainable wage-making enterprises for locals, like propagating orchids in test tubes.
"Initiatives like the Rainforest Project helped me to start thinking like a scientist and problem-solver, and [be ready to] engage in research from my first day at Trinity.”
—Zach Bitan Forman graduate
Make the Forman experience last one more year.
A gap semester program for the planet-minded. During Ingenuity Year, students aged 17-21 engage with communities in coastal Maine facing climate change, embark on a student-led expedition, train with an executive function coach, and more. It’s the ideal place to harness real-world skills, build confidence, and gain a competitive edge for the workforce.
