Staff, students, families and visitors all have a clear understanding of what it means to be a part of the Haven Community. The culture of Haven is purposefully created and upheld by all members of the school community and provides a predictable and safe environment for both students and adults. This strong culture has been created through a blend of common empathy-based language, rituals and traditions that form a strong foundation, and child-centered positive behavior supports and systems of logical consequences.

Haven provides students with a rigorous academic program grounded in a responsive learning environment. Individual learning needs are met through a combination of differentiated instruction, small teacher-to-student ratio, and subject-specific instructional specialists assisting in classrooms. In addition to traditional academic subjects, the Haven team has developed a social-emotional curriculum designed to recognize the existing skills of students and further develop social and emotional skills. Haven graduates are prepared to own their own academic and emotional growth, become confident social leaders, citizens able to meet their goals, and empathetic humans.

The Haven staffing model is specifically designed to support learning in a child welfare-impacted space. Haven has a social-emotional team and a behavior specialist teams both of which includes individuals with educational and clinical backgrounds. Members of these teams specialize in Learning and Behavior Disorders, Emotional Disabilities, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Child Psychology, and Child and Family Mental Health Therapy. The specialized Haven staff has developed comprehensive mental health and behavior support systems for both students and their families. Systems go beyond the time spent in the school building and are collaborative with outside agencies.

Social-emotional assessments include the Initial Social History Intake, Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA), Functional Behavior Assessments, family reports, teacher observations, and student self-reflections. Assessments are reviewed to refine support plans.In order to ensure that every student reaches high levels of academic achievement, teachers must gather, analyze, and use information about student progress to differentiate lesson plans and personalize instruction.

Haven approaches academics, behavior, and mental health using a tiered approach. As a baseline, all scholars receive Tier 1 supports during their time at Haven; students who need additional support receive Tier 2, with the most at-need students having individualized plans in Tier 3. As a child-welfare impacted space, Haven is specifically focused on providing support that address trauma, attachment difficulties, and community needs. Mental health and behavior supports include clear protocols for staff to manage mental health crises, life transitions, specific behavioral needs; targeted professional development for staff; tracking and data systems to ensure all decisions and tiered support is data-driven; and collaborations with agencies and families.