Introduction
Clarke School for the Deaf was founded in 1867 in Northampton, Massachusetts as the first permanent oral school for the Deaf in the United States and has gained an international reputation as a pioneer and a leader in the field of auditory/oral education. A local benefactor, John Clarke, offered a $50,000 grant to anyone who would start a school for the deaf in Northampton. Gardiner Greene Hubbard, with the state government and numerous individuals, played a role in the founding of the Clarke School. The Clarke School was not only the first school to teach children with hearing loss to speak in the United States, but also the first to initiate education in the early years and the first to recognize the importance of students entering mainstream classrooms. Clarke School also was the first to train teachers in auditor and oral education and in 1962 enhanced the Teacher Education Program by partnering with Smith College, where graduates could earn a Masters of Education of the Deaf. As in 2008, over 1,400 teachers of the deaf have been trained through the Smith College/Clarke Graduate Teacher Education program. The school has been fortunate in employing notable leadership to determine its programs and policies. Alexander Graham Bell, President Calvin Coolidge, and First Lady Grace Coolidge served on Clarke’s Board of Trustees, with Bell and Grace Coolidge at different points serving as Chair of the Board. In the first quarter of 2010, Clarke announced the new name better reflecting their mission from Clarke School for the Deaf to Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech. Subsequently, a new logo and website was created to complete the rebranding.
In the present day, the Clarke School has campuses not only in Northampton, but at:
- Clarke's Boston campus (or Clarke East) in Canton, Massachusetts
- Clarke's Pennsylvania campus (Clarke Pennsylvania) in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles west of Philadelphia.
- Clarke's New York campus (Clarke New York) in New York City, New York
- Clarke's Jacksonville campus (Clarke Jacksonville) in Jacksonville, Florida
All of the satellite schools are early intervention schools where young children from birth to five years old attend before starting in a mainstream school.
Read more about this topic: Clarke Schools For Hearing And Speech
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