Social Programs

Harmony supports students of all needs with a variety of special programs

Harmony Pubic Schools continues to identify, locate, and evaluate students with special needs and learning abilities, regardless of the severity, demand and additional related services. HPS currently provides 3,200 students with special programming

Special Programs support students from all need categories in gaining college and career readiness, and independent living skills through active engagement in grade level curriculum.

Areas of Special Needs Serviced in HPS:

• Autism (AU)
• Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) formerly Auditory Impairment
• Deaf-Blind (DB)
• Emotional Disturbance (ED)
• Intellectual Disability (ID)
• Multiple Disabilities (MD)
• Noncategorical Early Childhood (NCEC)
• Orthopedic Impairment (OI)
• Other Health Impairment (OHI)
• Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
• Speech Impairment (SI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
• Visual Impairment (VI)

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Mission Statement

It is the mission of the ESL program in HPS to provide ELLs with second language instruction that will promote English language development and enable them to participate equitably in both social and academic settings.

Vision Statement

It is the vision of the ESL program in HPS to equip the ELLs with the language skills and strategies that will help them become productive, successful and responsible members of society.

Program Information

The goal of ESL Program is to enable ELLs to become competent in listening, reading, speaking and writing. Through the use of communicative and integrative methods of second language teaching the program focuses on mastery of English language skills. In addition, the program emphasizes mastery in the content areas of ELA, mathematics, science and social studies. All content area teachers adhere to the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) in order to provide the necessary support to ELLs to acquire the specific content. There are two types of instructional design options in the program; content based and pull out.

• In the content based option, an ESL certified full-time teacher provides supplementary instruction for all content area classes in a structured, non-threatening environment.
• In the pull out option, ELLs spend part of the day in their mainstream classroom, and are pulled out for a portion of each day to receive specialized instruction by a certified ESL teacher in a small group setting.

CENTER FOR STEM EDUCATION

The mission of the Center for STEM Education is to coordinate and/or contribute to the development, implementation, and management of STEM programs aligned with the mission of the Harmony Public Schools.

The major goals of the Center are

• Serve as a central point of contact and communication by offering a physical presence at HPS main office, a comprehensive website, and STEM outreach programs.
• Be the driving force for engaging HPS students, faculty, and parents in STEM initiatives.
• Encourage and facilitate expanded HPS interaction with educators, community organizations, policy makers, businesses, and families.
• Develop and provide support for STEM programs for HPS teachers.
• Create strategic partnerships among business, higher education entities, and local educational agencies including school districts and charter schools to support STEM education by enabling and supporting regional collaboration.
• Develop and provide support for extracurricular STEM programs within HPS.
• Seek external funds for STEM fields and administer and support programs developed with such funds.
• Inspire and support HPS students to pursue careers in STEM fields.