McKean High School strives to provide students with personalized educational opportunities to enhance their high school experience and to ensure their academic success.

The Ninth Grade Academy
The Ninth Grade Academy was developed and implemented around the concept of a small learning community; it is a school-within-a-school organized around interdisciplinary teams of English, math, science, and social studies teacher and students who share a specific area of the school building. Incoming freshmen are connected to a select team of caring Academy staff who use research proven instructional strategies to teach the curriculum as well as address their students' needs on a more personal level.
The first year of this program was the 2005-2006 school year. A comparison of data collection from 2004-2005 (pre-academy), 2005-2006 (year 1 Academy) and 2006-2007 (year 2 Academy) was completed with regard to promotion rate, attendance, suspensions and school climate. Students are being more successful based on a 6% higher promotion rate and a 56% increase in the number of students with 5 or less missing school days.

The Tenth Grade Academy
The successes of the Ninth Grade academy have led to the inception of the Tenth Grade Academy for the 2007-2008 school year. A series of professional development opportunities have taken place to prepare teachers and to focus our efforts for a smooth transition.

Advisory Program
An Advisory Program will be implemented in the 9th grade for the 2007-2008 school year. This program will allow additional coaching and goal setting for students who are having difficulty adapting to high school; this program will allow the development of meaningful, individual student success plans to improve academic performance based on information gathered from analyzing DSTP/MAP data. Teaming upperclassman student-leaders with adult advisors to work with a team of advisees can be very powerful. The implementation of an advisor/advisee program reinforces personalization in the learning environment. Students in Advisories can: discover they are authentically members of a small-sized community of caring and concern; develop personal learning plans; engage in school governance; learn about career options and requirements; select courses; learn to manage conflict appropriately; perform school and community service; learn to appreciate differences between self and others; work on postsecondary planning and pre-employment skills; engage in recreational activities or some combination of all of these.