Located in Howard County (Laurel, MD), High Road Academy began as a tiny program of two students in 1998 and has grown to approximately ninety students in grades four through twelve at the present time. Given its location, students come not only from Howard County, but Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Calvert and the District of Columbia as well.

High Road Academy specializes in individualized, remedial programs for students primarily with learning disabilities. Staff is trained in a variety of methodologies designed for students with severe reading disabilities such as Orton-Gillingham, Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS), Phono-Graphix, LANGUAGE! and others. In addition to specialized strategies, High Road Academy also remains committed to the integration of computer technology in all aspects of the program. As a result, High Road Academy maintains a large repertoire of software programs dedicated to all aspects of the remedial program. As a result of the high degree of improvement in auditory processing skills among certain students who have utilized the FastForWord programs, High Road Academy has made a significant investment in the FastForWord/Gateway family of products.

While the majority of students attending High Road Academy require intensive reading and language arts remediation, there are also a significant number of students with a varying range of LD profiles.  High Road Academy also serves students with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities and Aspergers.  Other students are coded with multiple disabilities.  Since many students with learning disabilities also have co-existing disabilities (i.e. Other Health Impaired, Speech & Language Impaired), the program includes a strong emphasis on executive function and language processing skills.

Each student accepted into the program undergoes an intensive evaluation to determine present levels of performance upon entrance. A careful analysis of sight word recognition, word attack skills, comprehension, fluency, written expression, and math is conducted on each student in order to build a remedial plan. Methodologies and strategies are selected based on the student profile. Ongoing evaluation and monitoring of achievement ensures that adjustments in programming are made as often as needed based on student performance.

The main focus at High Road Academy is on perseverance and dedication to a return to a less restrictive setting. Dr. Ellen Gaske, Executive Director, is committed to the mission of remediation and return of students to home schools. High Road Academy has maintained an average yearly return rate of approximately 30% of its total school population each year! Follow-up data indicates that students have continued to achieve and meet the challenges of their new schools.

Staff at High Road Academy are committed to educating the wider community in issues related to learning disabilities. The staff actively present seminars and trainings at annual conferences, parent meetings, and for other organizations. The trainings are related to the following topics: Study Skills and Organizational Strategies, Reading Methodologies, Counseling Students with Learning Disabilities, and Strategies for Written Expression.
High Road Academy is under the direction of Dr. Ellen Gaske (Executive Director) and Mr. Matt Cooper (Associate Director).

Cesar Vallecillo Scholarship Fund

The fundraiser that was canceled in February, due to inclement weather, has been rescheduled.
High Road Academy and Historic Savage Mill Fundraiser presents Savage Mill Shopping Days on March 19th, 20th, and 21st. High Road Academy staff and students will be at Savage Mill on Saturday, March 20th from 2:00pm - 4:00pm. Please review the flyer attached. Hope to see you there. 

Savage Mill Flier

Lasting Lessons

Ellen Gaske on Youtube!

High Road Academy - Type II Programs 

The High Road Academy offers 4 Type II Programs within the Anne Arundel County School System. These unique programs provide students with all the services and support of the High Road Academy within their own home school.  For more information on these 4 school programs under the direction of Jordan Pugh, please click the links below.

HR Academy EELDS - Annapolis
HR Academy EELDS - Bates
HR Academy EELDS - Brooklyn Park
HR Academy EELDS - Lindale

Overview of Reading Approaches & Methodologies Utilized at High Road Academy

Essential Sight Words Program: This program helps students acquire a basic sight vocabulary as it teaches them to immediately recognize a set of sight words without the assistance of word analysis.  The ESWP is designed to teach a basic sight vocabulary comprised of 200 of the most frequently occurring words in the English language.

Great Leaps Reading Program: A systematic reading program designed by Kenneth Campbell for students from Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. This remedial program consists of three parts: phonics, sight phrases, and oral reading selections. The main purpose of this program is to develop fluency and automaticity in timed readings of words, phrases, and reading selections. This program is used in conjunction with instruction with other multisensory-based phonics programs.

Fast ForWord: The Fast ForWord family of products is a series of computer-delivered reading intervention products that complement reading instruction.  It incorporates learning from more than thirty years of brain, reading, and language research in order to help children, adolescents, and adults build the cognitive skills needed to learn to read or become better readers.  These products are based on the optimal learning principals of: frequent and intensive practice; appropriately leveled content that systematically adapts to the continually improving skill level of the student; simultaneously developing underlying cognitive processes such as memory, attention, and processing; and timely motivation in a learning environment that maintains a student’s attention.

Fernald Word Learning Technique: A multisensory word learning technique which systematically moves a student through four stages of word learning. The approach is analytic (teaches the whole word and then breaks down into component parts). This approach is especially successful as a supplementary sight word learning approach in conjunction with a systematic reading program which focuses on development of phonetic decoding skills.

Fischer Speed Drills: Fischer Speed Drills is a supplementary speed, fluency, and automaticity program designed to provide students with extra practice in increasing their overall fluency and recognition of high frequency letter pairs and combinations, morphemes, and sight words.

Glass Analysis for Decoding Only: A supplementary word learning technique which is based on a perceptual conditioning process. The approach helps students to identify, generalize, and produce an automatic response to common letters, clusters, and sounds.

Great Leaps Reading Program: A systematic reading program designed by Kenneth Campbell for students from Kindergarten through Grade Twelve.  This remedial program consists of three parts: phonics, sight phrases, and oral reading selections.  The main purpose of this program is to develop fluency and automaticity in timed readings of words, phrases, and reading selections.  This program is used in conjunction with instruction with other multisensory-based phonics programs.

Language! A Comprehensive , Individualized Intervention Curriculum for Students with Delays in Reading, Writing, and Spelling, Grades 1-12 (Jane Fell Greene): Language! is divided into three levels, each of which contains 18 units of study. Each of these 54 units of study contains several integrated, interwoven reading/language arts strands. Teachers begin by administering a placement test to determine each student’s starting point in the curriculum. Level 1 focuses on phonemic awareness, phoneme-grapheme correspondence, decoding, encoding, accuracy and fluency in passage reading, vocabulary, comprehension, wide supplementary reading, introduction to form and function in grammar, and abundant writing and editing. Level 2 focuses on syllabication, morphology (Latin roots, prefixes, suffixes) and Masterpiece sentences (mastery of syntax for composition, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension.) Level 3 adds features related to Greek morphology (Greek combining forms that make up much scientific and technical English vocabulary) and literature.

Lexia Reading S.O. S. (Strategies for the Older Student): Lexia is a software program developed by West End Media for use by students reading from first through seventh grade. The program is divided into five levels which are based on an Orton-Gillingham Scope and Sequence for reading instruction. Level I reinforces the word attack strategies necessary for automatic recognition of short vowel words containing consonants, consonant digraphs and consonant blends, in both one syllable words and detached syllables (word parts). The program advances through Level V activities which are designed to reinforce structural analysis word attack strategies necessary for automatic recognition of multi-syllabic words containing prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech (The LiPS Program): This program is based on the development of an oral-motor, visual, and auditory feedback system that enables students to identify the number and order of syllables in words. This approach is more basic and extensive than traditional phonics programs through its attention to direct development and integration of phonemic awareness with sound-symbol knowledge.

Merrill Linguistic Program: A highly structured and sequential basal reading program. Words are presented according to spelling similarities which give students a framework for building reading skills and vocabulary. This program can be used in isolation or in combination with an Orton Gillingham approach.

Morgan Dynamic Phonics Language Training System: Morgan Dynamic Phonics was developed by Kenneth B. Morgan. The program is a structured, systematic, sequential multisensory phonics reading program based on the Orton-Gillingham language training method. Morgan Dynamic Phonics is a comprehensive reading program that, in three reading books, teaches more than 5500 words and the skills to unlock thousands more. The program includes the 200 most frequently used words and the Dolch words through 4th grade. These words are used in more than 6400 sentences for the children to practice.

Orton-Gillingham Remedial Training for Students with Specific Disability in Reading, Spelling, and Penmanship: A program founded on utilization of multisensory techniques to present reading and spelling skills. Each phonogram (representation of a sound) is presented through each association (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic), and each association is linked and presented simultaneously. The premise is that the individual pathway makes an imprint on the brain and thus strengthens the learning process.

Phono-Graphix: Phono-Graphix was developed by Carmen & Geoffrey Guinness in the mid 1990’s. This linguistically based program has been researched and proven to work with children age four to adult nonreaders. Phono-Graphix point of departure is a 180 degree difference from phonics. Instead of teaching children the sounds that letters make, students are taught to recognize that letters do not make sounds, they represent sounds. For example, rather than ask a student to tell what sound a letter makes, students are taught as follows: When you see this sound picture, what do you say?” While appearing subtle, this aspect of Phono-Graphix makes it significantly different from other “phonics” approaches. Students work through four levels of Phono-Graphix: Basic Code, Adjacent Consonant Sounds, Advanced Code, and Multisyllable Management.

Read Naturally: The Read Naturally program provides a method to improve reading fluency. Most struggling readers have fluency problems and spend little time reading. The Read Naturally program combines three powerful strategies for improving fluency: teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring.

Recipe for Reading: Similar in scope and sequence to Orton-Gillingham, this approach begins with an introduction of a specific sequence of letters and sounds. The sequence is taught and developed utilizing a multisensory approach.

REWARDS: REWARDS is a specialized reading program designed to teach intermediate and secondary students a flexible strategy for decoding long words and to increase oral and silent reading fluency. The REWARDS strategy teaches students to examine the letters and patterns in words rather than guessing the word's pronunciation from context. The goal is to get a close approximation to the actual pronunciation and to correct that pronunciation using oral-aural language and the context.

Saxon Phonics Intervention Program: The Saxon Phonics Intervention program is a decoding and spelling program for struggling or below-level readers, grades 4 through adult.  It is a supplemental program that may be used with any other reading program.  The goal is to provide students with the critical decoding and encoding skills necessary to be able to read and write independently.  The program uses an explicit, systematic approach to enable most older students to develop the skills and strategies necessary for reading success.  New learning is presented in small, carefully sequenced increments, and each increment is reviewed continually throughout the year.

Spelling Through Morphographs Program: Spelling Through Morphographs is designed for students in grades 4-12 (and adults) who demonstrate mastery of basic sound-symbol relationships but who misspell words ranging in difficulty from home, friend, runner, and flies to designation and progressively. Students may enter the program provided they pass the Placement Test. A morphograph is defined as “the smallest unit of identifiable meaning in written English.” The objective of the program is to teach students a set of principles that deals with the structure of words. Once the student has mastered these principles, they can apply them to virtually any English word and generate correct spellings.

S.P.I.R.E. (A Multisensory Reading Program, Grades PreK-8): S.P.I.R.E. addresses and reinforces the mastery of all skills recommended by the National Reading Panel: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  S.P.I.R.E. materials introduce concepts gradually and with ample reinforcement.  The Student Readers are phonetically controlled and provide a high level of motivation.  Skills range from short vowel CVC words to affixes such as para-, -ive, and –ary.

Timed Readings Plus: This program consists of reading material in Literature, Social Studies, and Science spanning grades 4 through 13+. It is designed to provide systematic, structured reading practice that helps students improve their reading rate and comprehension skills. In addition, it is intended to give students practice in reading and understanding informational articles, experience in reading various types of texts (i.e. expository, narrative, informational, and prescriptive), rehearsal with a wide range of reading levels, and support for taking standardized tests that include timed reading passages in various content areas.

Visual Phonics Program: Visual Phonics is a system that uses forty-five different hand signals as cues for each of the consonant and vowels in addition to some consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th).  The hand signals are modeled after traditional fingerspelling used in American Sign Language.  The hand signals are used to cue and/or reinforce sounds within words and can provide a powerful visual and kinesthetic reinforcement to traditional phonics intervention programs.

Visualizing and Verbalizing (For Language Comprehension and Thinking by Nanci Bell): Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) is a strategy that combines the imaging process with oral and written language skills.  The imaging process moves from small units of language to larger units of language-words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, and chapters.  The process helps students in a number of areas including: reading comprehension, oral language comprehension, oral language expression, written language expression, and critical thinking.

Wilson Reading System: The Wilson Reading System directly and systematically teaches students how to fluently and accurately decode. It utilizes an interactive and multisensory approach. Students learn to encode (spell) as they learn to decode. The system is based on the multisensory language techniques and principles first utilized by Dr. Sam Orton, Anna Gillingham, and Bessie Stillman.

High Road Academy’s Treatment Model for Specific Reading Disabilities
Research on reading disabilities conducted within the last 2 decades provides evidence in support of new approaches to the diagnoses of reading disabilities in children and adults. Specifically, recently acquired information about a specific set of linguistic-cognitive markers for reading disabilities has had a profound influence on the content of our program at High Road Academy. These specific areas include phonological awareness, rapid automatic naming, verbal short-term memory, and rapid auditory processing. Efforts to assess and instruct students in each of these areas is an integral part of the High Road Academy program.

Continuum of Remediation to Strategy / Content-Mediated Instruction

  

Work Experience Program

The purpose of the High Road Academy Work Experience Program is to provide interested students with an opportunity to participate in appropriate job placements in the community in order to be better prepared for postsecondary options.   The Work Experience Program is an important aspect of transition planning for students in terms of next steps after high school.  The Work Experience Program is designed to be in alignment with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) requirements for career development including:  self-awareness, career awareness, career exploration, career preparation, as well as job seeking and advancement.

Goals:

•    Students will integrate a broad range of interests into personal learning and career goals, and assess the impact of abilities, strengths, skills, and talents on career development.
•    Students will plan and follow steps to make effective decisions and achieve goals for learning and performance.
•    Students will identify, explain, and experience careers of interest.
•    Students will analyze the connections between educational achievement and personal and career goals and adjust behavior in a way that integrates the strong connections.
•    Students will prioritize educational achievement areas needing improvement and develop a plan to obtain proficiency of personal and career goals.  
•    Students will evaluate career assessment results to identify a career pathway and develop a career plan.
•    Students will review high school plan, including postsecondary options and make modifications on an annual basis.
•    Students will select options for further education and/or training (i.e. dual enrollment, articulated credit, advanced placement, certification, two-year colleges, four-year colleges, apprenticeships, and technical schools).
•    Students will apply academic content standards of the Voluntary State Curriculum (VSC).
•    Students will develop a career folder to demonstrate academic and technical knowledge and skills of a career for employment and postsecondary preparation.  
•    Students will demonstrate skills to seek employment including writing a resume and cover letter, completing a job application, interviewing for a job, finding and pursuing employment leads and marketing in the workplace.

Students will earn 1 credit per semester for participation in the Work Experience Program.  Students will be scheduled for approximately ten hours per week of supervised work experience.  Students will have assignments and projects to be completed during the semester in addition to the daily work experience.   Students will be placed according to career interest, ability to work outside of the school setting, standing towards high school graduation requirements completion, and staff recommendation.