Academics
Here at Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, we are committed to providing a quality education for our students and to cultivating a mindful learning environment.
Our curriculum, closely aligned with the Pennsylvania Common Core Standards, is vertically and horizontally articulated to address the knowledge, skills and content in each subject area, across all grade levels. Each student has an Individual Education Plan which highlights the specific curricula skills being targeted each year in the student’s program. We use a fully immersive bilingual approach with American Sign Language and English so each student can attain fluency in both languages.
Activities and experiences are intended to develop students’ critical thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills. Effective uses of information technology supplement each student’s education across core academic subjects and through the arts and physical education. We strive to instill in each child a positive body image and a healthy passion for learning and discovery.
Classroom Hours
Community Preschool: 7:40 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Early Childhood Center: 8:15 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Grades 1st through 12th: 8:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
In addition to student IEP meetings, phone or in-school conferences should be scheduled during report card times of the 1st and 2nd trimesters. Individual conferences can also be scheduled to accommodate parents who so request.
Special Education
PSD welcomes all students as valued members of our school community. We provide alternative programming for students who require adaptations and support to meaningfully participate in all areas of academic and social life. Accommodations include frequent repetition and breakdown of tasks to learn simple and complex skills. Our instructional programming is developed from the general education content standards provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Students with the most significant complex needs receive differentiated instruction using alternative academic content standards for reading math and science. The Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) is given each year to assess progress in alternative academic areas. Our classes provide a low student to staff ratio to ensure that students receive a high level of individual instruction. We collaborate with families to promote generalization and maintenance across home, school, and community environments. We provide transition services to help students identify educational and career goals and work collaboratively to expand access and opportunities for developing the skills they need to meet those goals. We work to prepare them for all aspects of life after graduation.
Transition Academy
This program is an exploration and transition preparation program for students up to their exit age. Through structured associations on campus and with outside business and community partners, the program offers students work experiences to assist with career exploration and skill building in preparation for post-secondary education, adulthood, work or career. Classroom experiences provide academic support, including financial literacy, writing, and reading.
Each student’s skills and interests are assessed, and opportunities are given to explore various work fields. The exposures help guide the students toward careers and fields related to their emerging skills and interests. Previous career interests explored through the Transition Academy include teaching, childcare, culinary arts, computer technology, maintenance and housekeeping, photography, art, auto mechanics, office administration/clerical, nursing, dance, and others.
Students are matched with on-campus and off-campus internships where they are immersed first-hand in work environments and responsibilities. These involvements are also designed to demonstrate appropriate workplace behaviors, build communication skills, self-confidence, and self-advocacy, promote critical and creative thinking, and begin to understand and navigate the work world.
The program also links students and families to educational and community service, as well as agencies, such as the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP), and other outside resources to further promote their continued growth and independence.
Business & Community Partnerships
PSD partners with businesses, the community, and agencies to offer internship and mentorship opportunities for the students. Students can have the opportunity to attend scheduled work experience sessions offered by partner organizations. There is no charge to the community partner organization for their participation. PSD can provide transportation, student supervision, communication support through a sign language interpreter and lunch for the students as needed. One important goal is to place students in appropriate internships which provide real life work experience in various careers. If your organization or business would like to partner with our Transition Academy, contact us!
Special Area Classes
Art
Early childhood art is all about exploration and learning through experience. Children have lots of fun as we build, paint, sculpt and create with a large variety of materials. Elementary and middle school students learn to develop their skills with a wide range of media. Our students create original work that reflects what they have learned from art masters like Picasso, Dali, Pollock and others. In High School, Science and Art team up, creating STEAM inspired art. Students choose to build with various materials and can create using 3-D printers and other Education Technology. Student artists also have the opportunity to branch out and pursue their own interests in areas of their choice, such as pottery, sculpture, graphic design, and painting. Learning about Deaf art and artists is an integral part of our arts program. In addition, PSD hosts an Arts Show where students get the opportunity to showcase their individuality and creativity each Spring.
Library & Literature
With more than 24,000 items in our growing student collection, our library is an integral part of information, literacy, reading and student achievement. For our youngest learners, a love for reading is the primary goal of Literature class. As they move through Elementary and into Middle School, book analysis and research become the focus. High School students have the opportunity to debate and research various authors and topics. We connect closely with classroom units to draw inspiration from student passion and curiosity, and curate resources that will both inspire and teach. Students and staff can access a wide variety of print and non-print materials to support their individual interests and needs using Pennsylvania’s Power Library. PSD hosts two book fairs per academic year through our partnerships with Scholastic, Inc., and Reading is Fundamental (RIF). Both campus and online campaigns yield free reading materials for our students.
Performing Arts
Students will develop various skills in the performing arts program, from acting to staging to creating props and costumes. During performing arts classes, students will have more creative freedom, such as improvising with prompts and visualizing stories through sign language and gestures. Students will showcase their skills in the annual high school theatrical production.
Health & Physical Education
PSD promotes fitness, knowledge and skills that lead to a lifelong enjoyment of physical activity and making healthy choices. We do not emphasize competitive team sports but work to help our students develop a positive attitude toward physical activity for life. Our physical education program helps students grow in all factions: cognitively, emotionally, ethically, linguistically, and physically. We feature cooperative and competitive team games and actively teach fair play and responsible participation. Students set individual goals alongside team goals and work together toward achievement. At PSD, health education and health awareness go hand-in-hand for learners of all ages. Having healthy choices and learning how to make informed nutrition and fitness decisions are important to reaching and maintaining optimal physical and mental health. Formal health education begins in the elementary grades, with human sexuality education taught by staff who have had special training.
Science
Elementary Students enjoy science as a content area special three days an academic cycle. In the Elementary Science Lab, students explore earth, physical, and life science topics in addition to STEM.
Admissions
Thank you for your interest in The Pennsylvania School for the Deaf! We are a Pre-K to 12th grade school located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.
Approaching the threshold of our 200th anniversary, PSD is the third oldest school for the deaf in the nation. We value and recognize daily our place in history and the responsibility entrusted to us to educate the deaf and hard-of-hearing in our region. Your child will not only be attending a school, they will be joining a community and sharing in our legacy.
If your child is admitted to PSD he/she will be attending a school that is committed to providing quality education and enriching life experiences aimed at developing your child to their fullest potential.
Criteria
PSD provides a unique language and communication environment for students with educationally significant hearing losses. PSD’s learning environment is accessible through American Sign Language (ASL) and also through spoken English. We serve students whose primary receptive and expressive language for learning is ASL, as well as students whose primary receptive modality for learning is audition and whose primary expressive language is spoken English with sign language support.
Prospective students must be referred by their local school district or early intervention agency. While every effort is made to provide programs for children referred for enrollment, there may be some children for whom PSD is not an appropriate program. This includes, but is not limited to, students with severe behavioral or medical health needs and students with severe intellectual disabilities.
Curriculum
Our curriculum, closely aligned with the Pennsylvania Common Core Standards, is vertically and horizontally articulated to address the knowledge, skills and content in each subject area, across all grade levels. Each student has an IEP which highlights the specific curricula skills being targeted each year in the student’s program. We use a fully immersive bilingual approach with American Sign Language and English so each student can attain fluency in both languages.
Activities and experiences are intended to develop students’ critical thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills. Effective uses of information technology supplement each student’s education across core academic subjects and through the arts and physical education. We strive to instill in each child a positive body image and a healthy passion for learning and discovery.