The Morrison School Difference
Morrison School provides a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment to students in grades PK-12. Whether your child is struggling in an academic area or is well above grade level, our personalized approach to learning can address both. Our program is deliberate, structured, multisensory, and personalized. We utilize evidence-based approaches and best practices that involve specific learning strategies proven to support students who learn differently. Students are taught reading and math in small groups that are centered around each child’s skill development. An Individual Instruction Plan (IIP) is designed for each student that outlines the academic, social, and behavioral goals according to each student’s unique strengths and challenges.
With small class sizes and personalized instruction, teachers are able to understand, care about, and encourage each student to achieve their maximum potential.
Because of this differentiated approach, students progress at their own pace, moving on as they achieve mastery and developing increased independence and responsibility as they go. A number of specific and consistent strategies are used across all grade levels in all classrooms to help ensure success and productivity, including:
- Applied Behavior Analysis approach to Behavior Management. A positive behavior intervention system known as a Token Economy is used to elicit and reinforce successful learning behavior, work habits, and appropriate social behaviors.
- Individualized Instructional Plan with personalized curriculum goals
- Teaching to mastery
- Structure and organization
- Ahead of the curve technology used across the classrooms
- We foster a calm, positive, and predictable learning environment that strives to be free of bullying or harassment.
Students enrolled at Morrison School receive:
- Customized instruction for K4-12
- Appropriate Accommodations and Modifications
- Academic Achievement testing
- Student and parent consultations
- Written Individual Instruction Plans
- Daily feedback from teachers
- Formal Year End progress reports
- Professional Recommendations for the upcoming school year
- Pre-Vocational classes
- Fine Arts
- Rivers Way Program
- Personal & social skills development
- Physical Education classes
- Field Trips
- Community service opportunities
- Student Government
- Summer Learning program
The program is two-pronged in its approach to remediation: Correction of academic skill deficits and correction of personal/social/behavioral problems that often accompany learning and attention disorders.
Positive Behavior Support Program
A relatively strict and very effective behavior management system in the form of a token economy is implemented at Morrison School. Tokens are earned for academic production, behavior, and attitude. They are used to buy privileges such as free time out of class or even out of school, free homework passes, field trips, lunch out at a restaurant, lunch brought in, token store items (toys, models, books, games, etc.) gift certificates and money.
Homework Program
While many schools are moving away from assigning nightly homework, our homework program is an integral part of the unique learning experience that takes place at Morrison School. Through the program students develop effective personal traits and successful work habits such as motivation, work ethic, organizational skills, independence, accountability, and responsibility.
The biggest difference between our homework and that of most schools is that in assigning homework, we place more importance on how it is done than the actual work itself, although the work itself is very important.
There are basically four reasons Morrison School assigns homework:
- To instill in students a sense of independence, organization and responsibility relative to school work and, thus, enable them to become more efficient workers (which then usually generalizes to other areas of the students’ lives)
- To give teachers a good indication of what students are academically capable of doing entirely on their own which then serves to guide the teachers’ thinking, planning and decision making about instructional parameters for students
- To rehearse skills and knowledge acquired during the school day to better entrench them
- To apply such skills and knowledge to independent thinking and problem solving
As daily battles with homework subsides, a renewed passion for learning ignites and families have time to be families once again.
Early Childhood Educational Program
Research shows that early intervention is key in effectively addressing learning differences, and autism spectrum disorders. Each student enrolled in the Morrison School Kindergarten program will receive academic instruction based on the individualized curriculum developed by the expert teaching staff at Morrison School.
Students must be at least 4 years old to enroll and must be potty trained.
Our therapeutic Pre-K - Kindergarten program will help students build:
- Strong foundational academic skills- reading, writing, math, science, physical education
- Effective oral communication skills
- Time management and organization
- Independent working skills
- Successful Focus and attention techniques
- Positive social behaviors
- Appropriate play skills