The
Willie Ross School for the Deaf provides a comprehensive
educational program stressing academic excellence that focuses
on the development of students’ intellectual, social,
and emotional growth. The School fosters appreciation of
the dignity of every individual and acceptance of the many cultures
within our society. Willie Ross School offers a program
which encourages the development of the necessary combination
of academic strengths, social skills, and general preparation
for successful participation in society upon the completion
of students’ studies. This goal is accomplished through
the dual-campus model, which offers an immersion approach (deaf
students learning together) and inclusion (academic and community
mainstreaming – deaf and hearing students learning together).
Mission Priorities
The educational model of the school is designed to achieve the
following goals:
1. To create a unified Willie Ross community, accomplished
through regular communication and participation by all staff,
families and Trustees.
2. To support the academic success of all Willie
Ross students through recognition of their unique needs and
provision of individualized programming to address those needs.
3. To foster a community-wide culture of academic
excellence through the use of an integrated instructional approach,
provision of the most enabling academic environment, regular
assessment, and an emphasis on Individualized Educational Plan’s
success.
4. To promote and support communication between
the campuses in order to facilitate transition, to recognize
evolving student needs and the value of the dual-campus approach.
5. To promote a community-wide adoption of the
values of ongoing assessment of students’ outcomes in
order to insure all programs and services remain responsive
to student needs.
6. To recognize communication methodologies as
an instructional tool to enhance access to the curriculum and to
give equal consideration to all approaches.
7. To recognize and support the value of an integrated
instructional approach which recognizes the heterogeneity of
students with a hearing loss.
8. To recruit, appoint, and retain appropriately
licensed professional staff who are prepared to work with our
students and implement an integrated approach with a commitment
to ongoing student and programmatic assessment.
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 Mission
Components
The Willie Ross mission has six components:
1. Academic
excellence and a commitment to providing quality education
to all of our students.
2. Willie Ross will offer communication methodologies
to its students that best responds to their needs.
3. Willie Ross provides alternative educational environments
and use mainstreaming based upon the needs of the students.
4. Our language of instruction is simultaneous communication
that is English-based.
5. Spoken language, sign language, total communication,
and all methods are provided to students on an as-needed basis
to facilitate instruction and access to mainstreaming. Approaches
are integrated on the basis of the student’s Individual
Educational Plan.
6. The use of residual hearing will be encouraged and
supported. Students with cochlear implants will receive
appropriate related services to maximize the benefit of their
implant.
The School’s Vision
The Willie Ross School for the Deaf will provide educational
environments and process-based instructional approaches that
each student will have access to in all settings. Since
the world is an increasingly more complex place, certain skills
are required of all individuals for success. Willie Ross
utilizes both an immersion and inclusionary approach which enables
students to develop the ability to participate in society as
a whole. The Willie Ross School provides a model that recognizes
that educational environments must evolve as students’
needs evolve. Willie Ross supports families in their search
for communication with their sons and daughters, and our mutual
goal is reflected in our common vision; to provide a contemporary
educational program with an emphasis on academic excellence.
The
Willie Ross School does not utilize a single methodology of
instruction or communication to the exclusion of all other methodologies. Willie
Ross recognizes the value of sign language, and also the value
in developing spoken language. The Willie Ross integrated
approach recognizes that students with different needs are best
served in a setting which recognizes the value of integrating
different approaches to meet student needs. Our focus is
on the student, not a particular approach or philosophy.
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