The Elizabeth Ross Elementary School was designed using principles of Universal Design for Learning to ensure accessibility for all students. It was named after educator Elizabeth Ross and funded by a $30 million anonymous donation. The school aims to differentiate instruction through flexible classroom layouts, co-teaching models, assistive technology, and assessments tailored to individual student needs. Its goal is to implement UDL principles to successfully educate students of all abilities.

1. WELCOME TO
ELIZABETH ROSS
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
THIS SCHOOL IS DESIGNED USING THE
PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR
LEARNING (UDL).

2. THE STORY BEHIND
THE ELIZABETH ROSS
SCHOOL
ELIZABETH ROSS WAS A WELL KNOWN
EDUCATOR AND ADVOCATE FOR MAKING
LEARNING ACCESSIBLE TO ALL STUDENTS.
AN ANONYMOUS DONOR AGREED TO GIVE
3 MILLION EACH YEAR FOR THE NEXT 10
YEARS TO CREATE A SCHOOL BASED ON
THE UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING
PRINCIPALS. THE DONOR WANTS TO
ENSURE THAT THIS WILL BE A STATE OF
THE ART SCHOOL THAT WILL
SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENT UDL. THE
ELIZABETH ROSS SCHOOL OPENED IN
FALL 2017 FOR GRADES KINDER THROUGH
FOURTH GRADE.

3. WHAT MAKES OUR SCHOOL DIFFERENT THAN
TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS?
• Building/ Classroom Design
• Student Grouping
• Our amazing Staff
• Differentiated Instruction
• Curriculum
• Advanced Technology
• Assesments

4. BUILDING LAYOUT
Our school is designed to be accessible to all individuals.
Our school has an indoor track with 4 lanes that
assist in school structure when students and classes
are walking in the hallways.
Each grade level has their own hallway and for safety,
each classroom and each grade level hall way has a door
that locks.
Our school has an Action Based Learning Lab, which is
basically a gym with exercise equipment that each
classroom rotates through on a daily basis.

5. CLASSROOM LAYOUTS
TEACHERS HAVE FLEXIBILITY IN THE LAYOUT
IN THEIR CLASSROOMS AS LONG AS THEY
HAVE THE FOLLOWING COMPONENTS:
- FLEXIBLE SEATING
- ACTION BASED LEARNING EQUIPMENT
- LIBRARY
- QUIET WORK AREA
- WHOLE GROUP AREA
- GROUP WORK AREA

6. PLAYGROUND
• Even our playground is
designed to be accessible to
all children. We find it very
important to give all students
the same opportunities and
play is a very important skill at
this young age.

7. OUR STAFF
• All of our staff is certified in
General Education, Special
Education and ESL.
• Each Classroom uses the co- teach
model, where 2 certified teachers
are in the same classroom.
• Our teachers have received
extensive training on the principles
of Universal Design for Learning
(UDL).

8. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
At our school, the teachers focus on meeting the
needs of all learners. This includes teaching the
same material to all students using a variety of
instructional strategies, or it may require the
teacher to deliver lessons at varying levels of
difficulty based on the ability of each student.

9. CURRICULUM
• Our school follows the Texas Essentional
Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). To find more
information about grade level TEKS, please check
out the following link:
https://tea.texas.gov/curriculum/teks/
Ours teachers adjust the curriculum and the delivery
of instruction to best meet the needs of each
individual learner.
Each student has atleast 1 educational goal that they
can improve on according to data collected every 6
weeks.

10. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
Our students have access to the latest
technology at school.
All students in grades Kinder-2nd grade
will receive a loaner iPad for school and
home use.
All students in 3/4th grade will receive a
loaner laptop that will be used at
school.
All students will be familiar with use
text to speech and speech to text
software and how to submit their
assignments electronically.

11. ASSESSMENTS
• All students will take a grade level assessment at the start of the year to find out
their strengths and weaknesses.
• Students will be assessed in traditional and non traditional ways. With the use of
the co-teaching model, teachers will be able to individually assess students
progress on a weekly basis.
• Our school participate in the Texas state assessment, STAAR. Teachers will
identify the testing needs of the students, such as small group, individual
administration, online administration and a variety of other accommodations.

12. Thank you for your interest in
our school. We look forward to
meeting you very soon.