Summit Charter serves elementary school students identified as "specific learning disabled" (SLD). Summit Charter School's mission is to reduce the challenges of learning disabilities in enabling them to close the academic gaps in reading, writing and math skills with their non-disabled peers. These children are average to above average in intelligence, possess substantial academic potential, but learn differently than their peers. We attempt to provide each child with learning tools that will allow him to rejoin the academic mainstream with reading, writing, and math skills appropriate for his grade level. Without mastery of these basic skills, any present or future curriculum becomes meaningless. Summit Charter serves as a test bed for our innovative approach in remediating "learning disabled" students. These children are predominantly physical, "hands on" learners who are unaffected by conventional teaching methods. Their reading, writing, and mathematical capabilities can be raised to appropriate grade levels, but the teaching methodology must be in synch with how they learn (and not how we wish they would learn). We believe every child can "learn to learn." Through targeted educational techniques, our program provides the child with skills to allow him to correct and master his "disability." All staff members will treat each child as a multi-dimensional individual. We will resist the temptation to pigeonhole students into categories. We utilize innovative approaches currently unavailable in regular public school settings. Our long-term goal is to develop and disseminate a nationally recognized program to effectively educate students with learning disabilities.
