Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) is a private day school serving
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...
and
hard of hearing
Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken la ...
students from birth through grade 8 on the campus of
Gallaudet University
Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...
in the
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
neighborhood of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Alongside
Model Secondary School for the Deaf
The Model Secondary School (MSSD) is a residential four-year high school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students located on the Gallaudet University campus in Washington, D.C.
History
Prior to 1970, Kendall School for the Deaf served students f ...
, it is a federally funded, tuition-free
demonstration school
A laboratory school or demonstration school is an elementary or secondary school operated in association with a university, college, or other teacher education institution and used for the training of future teachers, educational experimentation ...
administered by the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University.
History
![Kendall School Division II for Negroes marker facing east](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Kendall_School_Division_II_for_Negroes_marker_facing_east.jpg)
KDES is named for philanthropist
Amos Kendall
Amos Kendall (August 16, 1789 – November 12, 1869) was an American lawyer, journalist and politician. He rose to prominence as editor-in-chief of the '' Argus of Western America'', an influential newspaper in Frankfort, the capital of the U.S. ...
, who in 1856 donated land and hired
Edward Miner Gallaudet
Edward Miner Gallaudet (February 5, 1837 – September 26, 1917), son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Sophia Fowler Gallaudet, was the first president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. (then known as the Columbia Institution for th ...
away from
American School for the Deaf
The American School for the Deaf (ASD), originally ''The American Asylum, At Hartford, For The Education And Instruction Of The Deaf'', is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States, and the first school for children with disa ...
, which his father had founded, to lead a school for his
wards, a group of indigent deaf and
blind children. Congress chartered the school as the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind in 1857, funding tuition costs for students from D.C. In 1860, Maryland began sending all its deaf students to the Columbia Institution. In the early years, the institution served students in elementary and secondary school, before beginning to offer college degrees in 1864.
In 1885, the pre-college department was separated from the undergraduate college, becoming Kendall School for the Deaf and Gallaudet College.
[ Female students were admitted beginning in 1887. In 1901, a law was passed requiring that all deaf, school-age residents of the District of Columbia be educated at Kendall School.
Kendall was founded as a fully integrated school. At the time, that was common for schools for the deaf. However, in 1904, Kendall School's black students were moved to the Maryland School for the Colored Blind and Deaf in ]Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
at the urging of white parents and the recommendation of the National Association of the Deaf. D.C. students had to wait until they were old enough to board at school to begin their formal education.
Preschool for three- and four-year-olds was added in 1946.
After the 1952 ''Miller v. D.C. Board of Education'' ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...
, Kendall began again educating black students. Initially, black students were educated apart from white students in the Division II building. Two years later, ''Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'' desegregated schools and the divisions were combined.
In 1968, Kendall became the first school to use computer-assisted instruction
Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...
for deaf students.
In 1970, Congress passed P.L. 89-694, which established KDES as a demonstration elementary school separate from the high school, Model Secondary School for the Deaf
The Model Secondary School (MSSD) is a residential four-year high school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students located on the Gallaudet University campus in Washington, D.C.
History
Prior to 1970, Kendall School for the Deaf served students f ...
. In addition to serving their student bodies, the intention was to have the schools develop educational resources and strategies that would improve deaf education nationwide. This change was the result of a 1965 report to Congress about the poor state of deaf education in the United States.
During the 1970s, as a part of that effort to improve outcomes for deaf students, KDES expanded its early education to begin serving children from the onset of deafness. That included support for parents of deaf infants and toddlers who were not yet of school age, as well as a cued speech
Cued speech is a visual system of communication used with and among deaf or hard-of-hearing people. It is a phonemic-based system which makes traditionally spoken languages accessible by using a small number of handshapes, known as cues (repre ...
inclusion program at the National Child Research Center, a mainstream preschool in northwest D.C., that was in operation from 1973 to 1982. In 1981, a review found that of the 13 children who spent at least two years in the NCRC-Kendall program, a majority were at or above grade level.
During Deaf President Now
Deaf President Now (DPN) was a student protest in March 1988 at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. The protest began on March 6, 1988 when the Board of Trustees announced its decision to appoint a hearing candidate, Elizabeth Zinser, over t ...
in 1988, Gallaudet students shut down the campus. While the protestors were willing to allow KDES staff and students to enter, the administration decided to cancel classes. At a rally, KDES students expressed their support of a deaf president for Gallaudet. The Unity for Gallaudet protests in 2006 also resulted in the temporary closure of the elementary school.
In 2000, the Clerc Center created the Technology in Education Can Empower Deaf Students (TecEds) project to increase the usage of technology at its schools and therefore prepare students for technology in the workplace. As part of the project, interactive whiteboards
An interactive whiteboard (IWB), also known as interactive board or smart board, is a large interactive display board in the form factor of a whiteboard. It can either be a standalone touchscreen computer used independently to perform task ...
, laptops
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
, and projectors
A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...
were brought into every classroom.
Surveys of schools for the deaf over the past few decades show that the Clerc Center schools, KDES and MSSD, have long had the highest percentage of deaf staff members—46% in 1997, 58% in 2007, and 78% in 2017.
Academics
KDES is accredited by the Middle States Association
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atla ...
and the , and is a member school of the American Society for Deaf Children
Rachel de Azevedo Coleman (born October 9, 1974) is an American producer and actress. With her sister Emilie de Azevedo Brown, she created the'' Signing Time!'' video series to teach children basic American Sign Language (ASL), which was broadcast ...
. It follows the bilingual–bicultural education
Bilingual–Bicultural or Bi-Bi deaf education programs use sign language as the native, or first, language of Deaf children. In the United States, for example, Bi-Bi proponents claim that American Sign Language (ASL) should be the natural first l ...
philosophy, meaning American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...
and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
are both used in instruction. It is also uses the bimodal approach—rather than English being only present in its written form, students have opportunities to hear and practice oral English. The program is designed to benefit all deaf and hard-of-hearing students, including those who use amplification devices and those who do not.
The early intervention program includes classes for parents, a playgroup for caregivers with their deaf babies and toddlers, half- and full-day preschool, and pre-kindergarten. For grades K-8, the school uses Maryland Common Core
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conc ...
standards for English and math, Clerc Center standards for ASL, and Next Generation Science Standards The Next Generation Science Standards is a multi-state effort in the United States to create new education standards that are "rich in content and practice, arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an inter ...
for science.
Graduates are automatically eligible to continue their education at Model Secondary School for the Deaf.
Extracurriculars
KDES participates in several academic competitions for deaf students. In 2014, 2018, and 2019, KDES won its division in Gallaudet's Battle of the Books for elementary and middle schoolers. In 2018 and 2019, KDES was the top scoring team at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. As one of nine colleges within the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester ...
's math competition for middle schoolers. The school holds an annual ASL spelling bee to determine who will represent the school at an ASL spelling bee against students from other schools for the deaf across the country, including Maryland School for the Deaf
The Maryland School for the Deaf (MSD) provides free public education to deaf and hard-of-hearing Maryland residents of age 0 to 21 years. Maryland School for the Deaf has two campuses in Frederick and Columbia, Maryland.
History
The school was ...
and California School for the Deaf, Fremont
The California School for the Deaf is a school for deaf children in Fremont, California. The school educates deaf children from all over Northern California. Its campus in Fremont is adjacent to the campus of the California School for the Blind ...
.
Athletics
In 1927, Kendall played in the first basketball tournament organized by what would become the Eastern Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association
The Eastern Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association (ESDAA) is an organization that oversees and regulates deaf interscholastic athletics in the US States of Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, ...
. The school continued to participate in the league through the 1960s.
Kendall was a founding member of the Mason-Dixon Schools for the Deaf Athletic Association, playing in the league's first basketball tournament in 1953. However, the Kendall team did not advance past the first round, losing 57-52 to Kentucky School for the Deaf
The Kentucky School for the Deaf (KSD), located in Danville, Kentucky, United States, is a school that provides education to deaf and hard-of-hearing children from elementary through high school levels. Founded in 1823, it was the first school ...
and then 36-35 to the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in the losers' bracket, and did not participate in any later tournaments. One Kendall student, John Miller, made the 1953 All-Tournament team, as well as the all-city team that year.
Today, the KDES Wildcats compete in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference
Formed in 1979, the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference is a group of independent schools in the Washington metropolitan area who compete against each other in interscholastic athletics. The conference comprises small independent schools from Maryl ...
against mainstream private schools. The school fields cross-country, volleyball, basketball, and track and field teams. They also play games and tournaments against other schools for the deaf.
Student body
KDES students live with parents or guardians in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area
The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...
. Because all services are free, students are parentally placed rather than being placed in the school by their school district. The racial makeup of the K-8 student body during the 2015–16 school year was 45.5% African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 23.4% Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
, 18.2% Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
, 7.8% Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, and 5.2% multiracial
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
.
Each student has an IFSP IFSP (german: Interface sternförmig parallel, russian: Интерфейс радиальный параллельный (ИРПР)), or radial parallel interface, was a parallel interface similar to the Centronics connector (IEEE 1284) but incompat ...
or IEP. KDES only accepts students whose primary disability is deafness, though deafblind students are accepted. A minority have cochlear implant
A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech und ...
s. As of 2016, 51% have profound hearing loss and 23% have severe hearing loss.
Notable alumni
* Gertrude Scott Galloway, educator
References
External links
Official website
{{Schools for the deaf in the United States
Private K–8 schools in the United States
Private middle schools in Washington, D.C.
Private elementary schools in Washington, D.C.
Laboratory schools in the United States
University-affiliated schools in the United States
Schools for the deaf in the United States
Gallaudet University
Trinidad (Washington, D.C.)
Deaf culture in the United States