K-8 Program

Challenging academics and self-advocacy training

Clarke's innovative K-8 Program offers a specialized education experience for students from kindergarten through eighth grade in Western Massachusetts.

K-8 Program

Small Classes and Specialized Support

Clarke’s innovative K-8 Program offers specialized classrooms at both the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech flagship site on Round Hill Road in Northampton, MA (kindergarten – sixth grade), and Hampshire Regional High School in Westhampton, MA (seventh and eighth grades).

The program offers Clarke’s kindergarten through sixth grade students opportunities to take part in activities with their peers with typical hearing. And by being located within a mainstream high school, Clarke’s middle school students are able to alternate between their own class time and shared time at lunch, gym, free time, art, music and sports with their peers. This gradual and controlled exposure to a mainstream setting helps prepare students for success in high school and beyond.

Clarke K-8 students are taught by masters-level teachers of the deaf; receive speech and language therapy; and have access to on-site audiological support. Very small classroom sizes provide individualized attention, and classrooms are designed for the unique acoustical needs of children with hearing loss. All classes follow the Massachusetts curriculum.

Clarke’s curriculum is aligned with state and national standards, and families are actively involved in learning through frequent communication and classroom observations.

What are parents saying about Clarke?

What the Clarke K-8 Program did for me and my family was life-changing. Clarke provided our family with hope, support, mentoring and encouragement, while connecting my son Austin with highly skilled teachers who taught him how to listen and speak in a caring and nurturing environment. I want all families to know the impact of Clarke’s work and how their children’s lives can be rich and full of possibilities too!

-Angela Bourbeau, K-8 Program alumni parent and member of the Clarke Leadership Council