Theodore Ryken Education Center
    The Theodore Ryken Education Center at Xaverian High School provides programs and services for high school students of average, or above-average intelligence who have specific learning disabilities. The program mission is to challange and support learning disabled young men so that they achieve academically at their intellectual level. Our goal is to turn them into effective life-long learners who will go on to college.

    The program integrates all of the resources of Xaverian High School with an intensive support system. The program philosophy stresses inclusion and integration, always moving the student towards the least restrictive educational environment. All students take a rigorous, college, prepartory program and meet the New York State requirements for a standard diploma and college entrance.

The Ryken Program
    The RYKEN Program is a secondary school, special education program for students who demonstrate the cognitive capacity to master a rigorous college preparatory program but whose academic performance is significantly hampered by a documented disability that interferes with the capacity to store, process or produce information. These disabilities include but are not limited to, reading, writing, or mathematics disorders, receptive or expressive language impairments, and attention deficit disorder.

Philosophy: The Ryken Educational Center functions under the belief that learning disabilities can be overcome by a variety of strategic and compensatory approaches in a supportive and challenging environment. That is, intellectually capable adolescents with significant learning disorders can complete the State requirements for a Regents approved Local Diploma and go on to college when:

• They are taught through their strengths.
• Through instruction, they acquire compensatory strategies.
• They work with challenging and age appropriate material.
• They are taught multi-modally.
• They have access to, and instruction in, state-of-the-art technology.
• They are encouraged and counseled to see themselves as academically capable.
• They are provided with appropriate professional interventions and therapies as their disabilities require.

Services Available: The Ryken Program offers a structured, small class (12:1-1) learning environment for students in their ninth, tenth eleventh, or twelfth year who are diploma bound.

The Equity Program

• A daily scheduled Resource Room where the student is taught to use strategies to master the curriculum content, and is assisted to develop skills appropriate to his unique strengths and weaknesses,
• The services of the Consultant Teacher who meets with and advises the classroom and on the adaptations and modifications the student requires,
• The services of the full time Test Prefect who consults with the classroom teachers on modifications to the assessments used in the course. Students take their tests with the Prefect in a separate test area
• After school tutorial services are provided each day, as staff teachers are available to assist students with course requirements, assignments, test preparation and research.

Criteria:It is expected that all students will meet the school requirements for a diploma, and go on to a four-year college program. Graduates of both the Ryken and Equity Programs receive Xaverian Diploma that meets all of the criteria set forth New York State Board of Regents and that certifies that they have completed a traditional college preparatory program.

Admissions: Students are accepted into a program after receipt of:

• An appropriate and up-to-date- IEP.
• Attending an Interview with the parent or caretaker.
• Providing report cards from the previous placement.
• Providing a letter from a previous instructor explaining the student's classroom needs.
• Equity applicants take CO-OP exam.

Tuition for the program is available upon request at ext. 158