School Overview
Welcome to Rice Children’s Center, our comprehensive program is proven to foster creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, effective communication, self-advocacy, and self-efficacy. Students are encouraged to explore their creative potential, and achieve academic standards, utilizing District 65 general education curriculums, intervention practices, and a comprehensive social emotional learning program. Our emphasis on collaboration and teamwork ensures that our culturally diverse students not only excel individually but also thrive in a collective learning environment. This includes the valued incorporation of all stakeholders.
Vision Statement: Rice Children’s Center is a student-centered learning environment that celebrates diversity and cultural humility. We define cultural humility as continuous learning that entails self-awareness and inquiry into one's own identity and biases, while actively seeking input from diverse perspectives. This requires an openness to different viewpoints, while addressing the power dynamics within a social structure.
Our Mission
- Creativity: Empower students to unleash their creative potential by providing a unique learning experience that transcends traditional educational boundaries.
- Critical Thinking: Cultivate a culture of intellectual curiosity and analytical reasoning. At Rice, we equip students with the skills to think critically, analyze information, and make informed decisions, fostering a lifelong love for learning.
- Problem-Solving: Rice fosters student scholarly inquiry across academic content areas and settings by honing their problem-solving skills and empowering them to discover innovative solutions and approaches to learning.
- Collaboration: Rice collaborates with the community and educational stakeholders to provide students with the necessary tools to be lifelong learners and future leaders in the community.
- Effective Communication: Rice cultivates effective communication between each staff member, staff to student, and student to student. This is done by exchanging thoughts, ideas, and problem-solving so that the messages between each other are done with clarity and purpose.
- Self-Advocacy: Promote self-advocacy by providing students with the tools and knowledge to express their needs, preferences, and aspirations. Rice's mission is to empower students to be advocates for themselves, fostering independence and a sense of agency.
- Self-Efficacy: We cultivate a belief in one's abilities and potential for success. Rice’s mission is to improve self-efficacy by creating a supportive environment that encourages students to set individual goals, overcome challenges, and develop the confidence to thrive both within and outside the school setting.