Clarke School
Mission
Clarke’s mission is to teach deaf and hard of hearing children to listen and talk, and to provide them with the English language skills and self-confidence they need to participate in the mainstream of society and become independent, successful adults.
Profile
Clarke School has been developing the listening and speaking skills of children with hearing loss for almost 140 years. Since 1867, Clarke's mission has been to instil in deaf children a belief in their own capabilities and to provide them with the skills and self-confidence they need to participate fully and independently in society.
Clarke School uses the auditory/oral approach to prepare deaf students for eventual transition into public and/or private schools with their hearing peers. At Clarke, parents find a unique learning environment designed to maximize deaf children's auditory/oral language skills. We help each child to develop a foundation made up of confidence, love, sense of self-worth and pride.
Today, more than 500 students and their families are served in our school and educational programs in five locations on the East Coast of the United States. Thousands of others benefit from our research, curriculum development and the teachers and professionals trained by Clarke who take their special skills to all parts of the world.
Results
Our results - independent younger people prepared for a place in the world speak for themselves! Students leave Clarke School with a sense of whom they are and who they want to become.
Clarke leads the field of oral deaf education. Clarke was not only the first school to teach children with hearing loss to speak in the United States, but also the first to initiation education in the early years and the first to recognize the importance of students entering mainstream classrooms. Clarke was also the first school to train teachers in auditory/oral education and in 1962 enhanced the Teacher Education Program by partnering with Smith College where graduates can earn a Masters of Education of the Deaf.
As a result, Clarke School has earned an international reputation for excellence in teaching children who are deaf or hard of hearing to listen, speak and understand others using this auditory/oral approach.
