From April 26-May 2, 2010, a group of Filipino educators from various programs for the deaf went on a "fact-finding trip" to visit programs for deaf students in the United States. The teachers and administrators are members of the Secondary Education Initiative (SEcI) Partnership Network, a group of educators of deaf students dedicated to "raising the bar" for deaf high school students through appropriate placements, access and education. The schools and individuals who participated included De La Salle - College of St. Benilde (Ms. Theresa Christine de la Torre & Mr. John Baliza), the Bible Institute for the Deaf (Ms. Elena Castillo & Ms. Ana Liza Sia), La Salle University - Ozamiz Deaf School (Brother Jaime Dalumpines, F.S.C. & Ms. Sarah Talibong), La Salle - Green Hills Adult Night High School (Mr. Noel Que & Mr. Rheal Dayrit)
The purpose of the trip was to become familiar with three types of school programs that fall along the continuum from fully separate to fully integrated models. At NTID, the participants met with Anne Kingston, program assistant in the Deaf Education Department at Monroe BOCES #1, who explained how various services are provided to support deaf and hard-of-hearing students who are fully mainstreamed in regular education classes. The group then visited The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, Massachusetts, where they visited classes and talked with administrators about the challenges and successes of educating deaf students in a bilingual-bicultural environment. Patrick Costello of The Learning Center coordinated this visit. From Framingham, the group flew West to visit a large program for deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students that is housed in a public high school in Irvine, California. The University High School program represents the middle of the continuum of programs for deaf students-a center school model. Participants visited classes and spoke with staff members who provide support services. This visit was coordinated by Jon Levy, principal of the deaf program in Orange County, California.
Throughout the trip, debriefing sessions were held to determine how each model fit with the present situations in Filipino education of deaf students and whether the Filipino schools could take advantage of the systems, ideas, and processes used in the various U.S. programs. Dr. Susan Foster, research professor at NTID and Nora Shannon, senior project associate at PEN-International, traveled with the group and led the debriefing sessions.
