Student+Audience

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The Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD) is a fully accredited school for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Preschool through high school located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It provides services to approximately 370 students enrolled on campus. About 60 percent of the students live on campus during the academic year. ISD offers a full range of social activities, including sports, clubs, and organizations.=====

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The Indiana School for the Deaf was founded in 1843 by William Willard, the first Deaf person in America to establish a state school for Deaf people. It was at first a semi-private school that offered free instruction to any Deaf person in-state or out-of-state that sought an education. The following year, the Willard School formally became the Indiana School for the Deaf, the first state-sponsored school in America that offered free education to any Deaf student. From that beginning, ISD has developed into one of the leading Deaf Schools in the nation, rich in heritage yet always striving to meet the challenges of the 21st century.=====

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We are serving deaf and hard of hearing children who are diverse and have a range of needs regardless of where they are placed for their education. Each deaf or hard of hearing child’s individual needs are determined by the Individual Educational Plan, and placement is determined through a case conference. Our mission is that we strive to be the premier comprehensive center providing education, services and resources for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children, their families, and educational partners.=====

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The school is committed to the academic development of each of our students. Through the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process, teachers and support staff strive to develop and implement a program designed to promote and develop each child's educational needs. The division endorses a bilingual environment throughout the school. American Sign Language (ASL) is the language of instruction with English strongly emphasized across the curriculum.=====

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The school is accredited by the Indiana Department of Education through the Performance Based Accreditation (PBA) and the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf (CEASD). The school follows the rigorous Indiana Academic Standards. Students are assessed through the ISTEP+, IMAST,and ISTAR assessments given to all the students in the state of Indiana. In addition students are tested twice a year using the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) test to determine academic growth across the school year.=====

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The Education Division directly serves students on the Deaf School campus. The goal of this program is to provide for early language acquisition and to facilitate the development of two languages, American Sign Language (ASL) and English. This goal is accomplished with the belief that for most Deaf students, American Sign Language is the accessible, dominant language used for communication, and thinking, while English is learned as a second language. By fostering competencies in these two languages and by providing an academically and culturally enriched learning environment, Deaf students will have the skills and attitudes necessary to function effectively with members of the Hearing Community. Our staff participate in the American Sign Language/English Bilingual Professional Development (AEBPD) under the [|Center on American Sign Language/English Bilingual Educational Research (CAEBER)]. We aspire that by 2014, all staff, under the Education and Student Life Divisions, will complete their training.=====

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Currently 99 percent of our students qualify for the free and reduced meal plan at the school. Percentages at this school for each race are: 2% Asian, 8% Hispanic, 12% Black, 72% White, and 6% Unknown. In the first grade, there are 25 students with three teachers and 13 students in the fourth grade with two teachers. Each teacher has a paraprofessional assisting with the goal of the teacher to student ratio being 8 to 1 to provide equal visual access for each and every student.=====