NCSD welcomes new Dean of Education

There’s a new Dean of Education in town, and he has his eyes set on developing a national model in deaf education.

Dr. Jordan Wright began his position at the North Carolina School for the Deaf (NCSD) on Monday. NCSD Superintendent Dr. Kristin Todd said she’s been trying to get him to work at the school for years — including as superintendent before she took the job.

“It’s really important for our students to see deaf leadership,” Todd said. “And obviously, his expertise, his educational background, and his PhD in Deaf Education. I know his heart as well.”

Wright, who became deaf at the age of four, earned his PhD at Gallaudet University, an iconic institute specifically designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing students located in Washington, D.C. After visiting family in the Charlotte area, he fell in love with North Carolina and decided to make the move.

He brings several years of professorial and research experience from Gallaudet University, Lamar University, and the Rochester Institute of Technology. In his research, Wright studied deaf accessibility in health care and education, citing the same limitations across both.

“I look forward to setting up evidence-based practices through research,” Wright said. “We’ve already started looking at possible grants and how they can improve NCSD to become a national model.”

Wright’s new role functions similar to a principal, but with added caveats and responsibilities. After removing the principal position, Todd and her team reevaluated the school’s needs.

“We posted for the Dean of Education,” Todd said. “That person is responsible for making sure that we have the best instruction and learning environment in our school … What I want and what I’m looking forward to is true instructional leadership.”

Todd explained that one of the first big initiatives in the pipeline is working with the N.C. Collaboratory to progress best practices in deaf education through a bilingual, bi-cultural model.

NC Collaboratory is a program that conducts research in a broad range of areas that “may benefit from utilizing academic talent, expertise, and analytical infrastructure,” according to a report from the NC Collaboratory.

“They’re looking at research proposals,” Todd said. “We’re working in conjunction with Western Carolina University, and they will be helping us formalize our instructional framework as well as consulting on our strategic plan to help the two of us — Dr. Wright and I reach that goal of being a national model.”

According to the pair, the overall goal is to end language deprivation. Language deprivation occurs when deaf and hard-of-hearing children are born to hearing families. Many families don’t know American Sign Language, and some never learn.

“A hearing child born to a hearing family has incidental learning immediately,” Wright said. “Deaf children do not have that same access to incidental learning, which means they are raised and unexposed to formalized language compared to their hearing counterparts … When students come here to NCSD, we want to make sure that they are equal with their hearing peers.”

As for school infrastructure, the new dean hopes to draw staff applicants from across the country, inviting newcomers from a variety of backgrounds to show the students what they’re capable of achieving.

“Historically, NCSD has relied on North Carolina university to publicize teachers coming here,” Wright said. “But I want to expand that to the national level to get more diversity of staff, more diversity in philosophies, perspectives, points of view — I want our kids to see the deaf community is diverse itself.”

Despite the prestigious goals, one of the most exciting aspects of the job for Wright is working with the students.

“I see myself in many of them,” Wright said. “I understand their issues, their emotional challenges — just them as a whole. The empathy is there and, of course, I want to see them succeed, whether that means going to college or being employment ready.”