The Academy was established to meet the critical academic and social development needs of inner-city youth. Since opening its doors in the fall of 2002, The Lawson Academy has attended to middle school males enrolled in grades 6 -- 8, providing them an authentic, enriched learning community that believes all students can learn and that, given the right guidance and preparation, all students can be
come their best selves. Early on in its development, the Lawson Academy purposefully implemented a single-gender strategy for education. Located on the Texas Southern University campus and warmly embraced by non-profit, for-profit, fraternal and community organizations, this model has demonstrated a positive impact on the students and families it serves. Within our single-gender educational program, teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders can address students’ unique physical, social, and emotional needs, and provide them with a safe, secure, and nurturing environment that fosters their academic growth. In 2011, the academy expanded its model to include a girls’ program. Female middle-school students had an opportunity to benefit from an equally rigorous academic experience as well as build meaningful relationships and reinforce invaluable character traits that continue to make the Lawson Academy program so successful. The Lawson Academy is an open-enrollment public institution with established academic requirements and requisite parental commitment. We welcome any students who willingly accept the challenge to become college ready and to demonstrate personal integrity and a responsibility. Each scholar who attends the Lawson Academy is recognized as an individual who has unique abilities, needs, and interests. For that reason, we foster a student-centered learning environment that models high expectations for academic achievement and that provides an atmosphere of mutual respect for students, staff, family, and community members.
