Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD)

Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD)

The Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD) was founded in 1839 and is in Jacksonville, Illinois on a 50-acre campus in central Illinois. The school offers accredited educational services for children from ages three to twenty-two, who are deaf or hard of hearing and live more than 25 miles from Jacksonville, and day programming for students who live within 25 miles of Jacksonville.

The vision of the Illinois School for the Deaf is to provide an environment in which students will thrive and succeed to their optimal potential. The mission is to engage students in a supportive, safe, and nurturing environment to achieve personal excellence academically, socially, physically, and emotionally.

FY 23 Highlights

• ISD provided educational instruction to 209 students on a continual basis. One hundred fifty-four (154) were served on campus as either residential or day students and 55 were served though the Birth to Three (0-3) program.
• The Parent/Infant Program serves Illinois children diagnosed with hearing loss from birth to age three (3) and their families.
• ISD provides a full range of academic, career, and support services to meet the needs of each student.
• Jr and Sr High students have choice in academic individualized educational programming that provides a transition plan to support the students in preparation for their post-secondary journey:
  • Students may choose classes through the Career Technical Education (CTE) program, which emphasizes pre-vocational and vocational subjects.
  • Students may choose to take advantage of agreements established with area schools if they are interested in a course not offered at ISD.
• Provides a wide variety of sports and extracurricular activities such as boys and girls basketball, volleyball, swimming, bowling, track, and cheerleading that help them become well-rounded and productive adults.
• Provides a bilingual environment in American Sign Language (ASL) and English so individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing can learn and work together to ensure effective communication.
• Services are free and available to parents, students, teachers, and educational personnel who work with children who are deaf or hard of hearing in Illinois including training on:
  • Topics associated with hearing loss.
  • Conferences for parents
  • Assessments to identify educational and vocational needs.
  • Annual conferences for educational personnel
  • Cochlear Implant support.