You are viewing this document in text format. If you would like to adjust the margins or font to make it more legible or easier to print, we recommend that you save the document to your hard-drive. To save the document, choose "File," "Save As...," then select a directory on your computer. Perkins School for the Blind Strategic Plan 2005-2010 Where The World Why Productive and Meaningful Lives What Education, Services, Products, Training and Advocacy Who Infants, Toddlers, Students, Faculty, Adults, Elders and Parents Seeing Possibilities How do we change the world? One step at a time. How did a deafblind girl write books and speak to millions of people around the world? How did the law providing early intervention services to blind preschoolers become a reality? How did educational services for deafblind children begin in 55 developing countries? How have university training programs for teachers of the blind been sustained for the past 80 years in New England? With the help of Perkins School for the Blind. The Perkins mission is to provide education and services that build productive, meaningful lives for children and adults around the world who are blind, deafblind or visually impaired with or without other disabilities. Since 1829, Perkins School for the Blind has achieved enormous impact on the world. We are a leader in educating not just children who are blind or deafblind but also children who have disabilities in addition to their vision impairment. We serve children directly, their teachers and families. Every year we help over 67,000 people reach the possibility of a fuller, more meaningful life. As we look to the future, we are concerned about our ability to continue delivering a premier level of quality service. Our finances are stretched to capacity, yet there are critical areas in which we must invest. Government cuts mean that the Perkins endowment now must cover 16% of every student's tuition-this is a dramatic increase from the previous level of 5%. Technology offers people with vision issues opportunities to thrive at home, school and work. Yet Perkins struggles to integrate expensive technology into our educational programs. New technologies are an essential teaching tool that we must master as we have all other teaching tools. This requires expertise and funding. Even as the pressure on our endowment increases, many more people need and ask for our assistance. ¥ Medical advances are saving premature babies, many with visual and other impairments. ¥ 90% of visually impaired students attend public schools, and many do not receive the services they need. ¥ 70% of US citizens who are blind are unemployed or underemployed. ¥ In 25 years, the number of people who are blind will double. ¥ 85% of children with disabilities in developing countries have no access to education. We are developing Perkins' Strategic Plan 2005-2010, Seeing Possibilities, to lead us into the future. We ask you to join us as we help greater numbers of people see the possibilities of their lives. If you would like more information about the Strategic Plan or have ideas for helping the people we serve, please contact: Steven.Rothstein2010@Perkins.org Jan.Spitz2010@Perkins.org 1 - Preparing Students Everything we do starts in our classrooms - just as it did over 175 years ago when Perkins was founded. Today, the challenge of preparing students to become independent is more complex. We serve a wide spectrum of students - students on their way to college and those with severe cognitive and physical disabilities whose only hope is Perkins' expertise. Serving these extremes and complying with the federal government's "No Child Left Behind" mandate is costly. But it is Perkins' mission and we are unwavering in our commitment to all of our students. This level of commitment requires an equal level of resources. Technology levels the playing fields for people who are blind. Those preparing for college or directly for work need the latest computer rooms and science labs. Students who are deafblind and have additional disabilities need extensive adaptive equipment. Perkins teachers and professional staff earn less, sometimes $10,000 less annually, than their public school counterparts. Half of the current Perkins teachers will be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years. Recruitment and retention of the highest quality teachers grows more challenging every year, yet is critical to our continued success. 1 - Action We will build an endowment to support on-campus programs from strengthening the curriculum, to maintaining our physical plant, to ensuring the best education for our wide spectrum of students. We will launch a long-term technology expansion plan in September 2006. This will include increased adaptive technology in the classrooms and staff training. We will rollout a plan to increase compensation for teachers and school staff. We will increase our competitive position. 2 - Reaching New Populations Right here in Massachusetts and New England, in Perkins' backyard, many people are not receiving the services they need to be independent. 90% of students who are blind or visually impaired attend public schools. Though many receive services, a severe shortage of specialized teachers means that hundreds of these children do not receive all of the services they need such as braille instruction or learning to navigate safely. It means that some children with needs are not even identified. There are babies not receiving the full extent of their needed services. The teacher shortage especially affects students of color, recent immigrants and children whose families do not speak English as a first language. More than half of professionals working with mainstreamed students with vision impairments do not have adequate training to serve those students. Public school students who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind often have no peers at school with similar disabilities. This lack of proper support can lead to isolation and can compromise social and academic progress. In the United States, 70% of people who are blind are unemployed or underemployed. In Norway, it's 20%. That country provides assistive technology, training and transition services to all citizens who are blind. 150 blind students graduate from Massachusetts high schools every year, and if they do not work or enter college or training the first year after graduation, statistics show that they rarely will. Currently, only 10% of the people eligible to receive free talking books and other materials from the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library are receiving these services. Over 75% of legally blind Massachusetts residents are ages 65 or older. In addition, because of age-related vision problems, elders are the fastest growing blind population. 2 - Action We will increase our itinerant teachers who work with students in public schools and babies in their homes from 30 to 50. This additional staff will allow us to serve over 1,000 children and their families throughout Massachusetts. We will hire teachers especially skilled to reach underserved populations. The Perkins Training Center is the largest in-service training institution in New England for the training of teachers, therapists, school administrators and other professionals in the methods of teaching blind and deafblind students. The Center has recently grown and trains 2,000 people a year. We will sustain these services beyond the start-up phase to assure the best quality teachers throughout New England. We will expand the weekend and vacation programs for public school students, providing socialization, MCAS training and work internships. We will especially target underserved populations. We will introduce the Perkins Transition Program. We will increase by 40% the numbers of patrons of Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library. We will research programs to serve elders, including training, housing, education and rehabilitation services. 3 - Expanding Internationally In the developing world, 85% of the children with disabilities receive no education. In many developing countries, governments do not have the needed resources to support education. Within education, special education is even less of a priority. Within special education, children who are deafblind and blind with other challenges are often the last to be considered worthy of an education. Today, we partner with 260 schools to serve over 27,500 blind and deafblind children, their families and educators in 55 developing countries. But there are still thousands of isolated children in those countries who do not yet receive services. For every dollar Perkins has invested in developing countries, local groups raise nine dollars to augment services. The Perkins Brailler(r) is the pen and pencil for people who are blind. In developing countries, few schools have sufficient Perkins Braillers(r) for their students. Even fewer students can afford their own. 3 - Action We will increase the numbers of programs in the countries we currently serve. We will expand by ten new countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Latin America. We will expand to the Middle East. We will increase distribution of Perkins Braillers(r) in developing countries. 4 - Building Partnerships Please join us as we take the next steps to building a future of possibilities. Together, all we see is possibility. We have much to do to embark upon and fulfill this strategic plan. For some of these initiatives we are beginning immediately, for others we are gathering additional information. It will take several months and even years to realize our goals. All of this work is ongoing. One certainty is that these plans cannot progress without the vision and commitment of many individuals. Since 1829, when Perkins began, there have been people determined to change the world for children who are blind, deafblind and who have additional disabilities-people who were not satisfied with the limitations that existed but who saw the possibilities of what could be. Continuing to act on this determination is the way to change the world. Today we make a difference to over 67,000 people annually. With your help, we can do so much more. 4 - Action Ways you can help: Partnerships Facilitate connections to other organizations locally, nationally and internationally that can work with us to serve people who are blind, deafblind or blind with additional disabilities. Advocacy Participate in advocacy activities including joining our on-line network. Ambassadors Spread the news of our services and engage others to support the Perkins mission. Expertise Help us with technology and other expansion plans. Volunteers Donate your time, expertise and leadership from helping in Perkins' classrooms to serving on committees. Financial Resources An investment in the future takes additional money. If we are going to provide the best services to more people, we will need significant additional resources through financial investments and contributions to make these possibilities reality. Seeing Possibilities With You If you would like more information about the Strategic Plan or have ideas for helping the people we serve, please contact: Steven.Rothstein2010@Perkins.org Jan.Spitz2010@Perkins.org Board of Trustees and Officers of the Corporation Chair of the Board Janet B. James Vice Chairs of the Board Linda DiBenedetto Dudley H. Willis Chair of the Corporation C. Richard Carlson Secretary Charles A. Cheever Treasurer Charles C. J. Platt Board of Trustees Frederic M. Clifford William J. Edwards Brenda J. Furlong Albert Gayzagian Paul Goodof Corinne Grousbeck Loretta Warner Holway Philip Ladd William A. Lowell Julio Marenghi Andrea Lamp Peabody W. David Power Paul Raia Perkins School for the Blind 175 North Beacon Street Watertown, Massachusetts 02472 Fax 617-926-2027 Phone 617-924-3434 www.Perkins.org