The Graham School A Partnership of Graham Windham and the Greenburgh-Graham Union Free School District

Our Graham School students achieve academic success and social and emotional

growth in a nurturing and highly-structured learning environment.

Who We Are ... The Graham School is a co-educational therapeutic day and boarding

school located on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River in Hastings-on-Hudson,

New York. It is licensed by New York State’s Department of Education and

Office of Children and Family Services and accredited by the Middle States

Association of Colleges and Schools and the Council of Accreditation.

The school is designed to meet the needs of boys and girls ages 5 to 21 who

have been referred by New York City metro area public school districts and

by New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services for residential

education and treatment services and, when needed, family permanency

planning services. We accept children and adolescents with learning

disabilities, emotional and behavioral challenges and disrupted family life.

Our Values ...

SAFETY & ORDER

Physical safety and emotional security are essential

conditions for a child’s health, education and

development. Our first consideration is always student

safety and ensuring an orderly and therapeutic

campus environment.

RELATIONSHIPS

We use healthy, authentic and humanizing student/staff

relationships to promote education, healing, growth and

well-being.

GOOD CARE We care about our students. Our care is demonstrated

day-in and day-out by our words, our deeds and by

addressing the true needs and challenges of those we

serve.

FAMILY

We believe that home and family are our students’

greatest natural resource. It anchors them. It defines

them. It makes them whole. We work in full and active

partnership with our students’ families in the best interests

of their child.

… and Beliefs

EDUCATION

Education is a primary force for individual and collective

progress and achievement in American society. We are

committed to providing our students with a strong, rich and

expansive year-round academic program, carefully

calibrated to the individual needs of each and every student.

STRENGTH-BASED SERVICES

All the students we serve bring with them unique talents, skills

and personal narratives, in addition to specific unmet

needs. We are committed to a strength-based approach to

practice, capitalizing on existing competencies, talents and

interests to shape and implement individual education

and treatment plans.

HIGH STANDARDS

We believe in our students, in their essential goodness and

capacity to cope, heal, learn, grow and succeed. Therefore, we

set their challenge bar high, consistent with the upper limits of

their promise and potential.

RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES

The “rights” of our students and families are important to us and

honored in our work. At the same time, progress can be

expected only when those rights are accompanied by an

active acceptance of responsibilities. All our students and

families have a voice at The Graham School and share with us

responsibility for their success.

Each student’s program is specifically tailored to their individual needs and goals.

The Program Located on a beautiful 30-acre campus, The Graham School serves 300

resident and day students with a myriad of strengths and moderate-to-severe

learning, emotional and behavioral challenges. The facilities include an

elementary, middle and high school in two modern school buildings, 12 resident

cottages, a large and historic administrative building, a fully equipped health

center, a family center, two gymnasiums and an outdoor swimming pool.

The program is a collaboration between Graham Windham, the

nation’s longest serving child welfare agency and the Greenburgh-Graham

Union Free School district, which was established in 1967 to serve the residential

children of Graham Windham. The agency and school take special pride in a

close working relationship which enables the program to provide fully

integrated academic, clinical, youth development and enrichment services in

a nurturing, highly structured and individualized learning environment, staffed

by experienced teachers, clinicians, social workers and youth counselors.

What makes The Graham School Unique?

The Graham School is a learning community where staff inspire students, students inspire staff and lives are transformed.

THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

The Greenburgh-Graham elementary, middle and high schools offer a wide range of

educational and enrichment programs. Small class size, with a ratio of one teacher and two

support staff for every eight students, ensures personal attention for all. We assess the learning

strengths and needs of each student upon arrival and provide instructional strategies and

accommodations to support students with varying ability levels. Curriculum offerings meet all

the requirements of the New York State Department of Education.

RESEARCH-BASED READING INSTRUCTION

The Graham School uses two evidence-based instructional models to teach reading. The first is

Language-Based Reading Instruction. This is an intervention program for learning disabled and

struggling readers. It focuses on word decoding, spelling and grammar. The second model is

called Balanced Literacy. This is an integrated approach that incorporates the use of multiple

strategies to enhance reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening skills. Student

engagement and participation, and the generation of authentic student work, are the keys to

success. All our reading programs are grounded in ongoing student assessment based on

quarterly evaluation. Instruction is aligned with regents standards and is differentiated from the

remedial level to the honors level.

In the Classroom Direct skills instruction within a small class setting helps students to reach their full potential.

MATH ACADEMY

Systematic and web-based intervention programs

that build foundational mathematical skills.

PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Provides students with complex tasks involving

higher problem solving, decision making,

investigative skills and reflection.

CREDIT RECOVERY & GED PROGRAMS

Alternative programs for high school students who

are credit deficient.

ELECTIVE CLASSES

Visual and media arts, music, drama and writing

are examples of high-interest options for students.

TUTORING AND HONORS LEVEL CLASSES

Additional support and enrichment geared to

student need and performance.

COLLEGE CAFÉ

Staff work with students to prepare college

applications.

SAT PREPARATION

Academic decathlons to encourage studying

and preparing for college entrance exams.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION Provides students with different avenues to

acquire knowledge.

Our classrooms are staffed with

trained, certificated and deeply

committed educators who know

their way around special needs

students, challenging behaviors,

cutting-edge pedagogy and New

York State standards. They

prepare each student to meet

with success on state assessments

and go far beyond the standards

to enrich our students’ learning

experience and address their

personal interests. They know how

to help our students find the best

in themselves.

Faculty and Staff

Nothing impacts the academic achievements of our students as much as the quality of the teaching they receive.

Graham’s highly trained faculty refuse to ratify failure. They zealously draw students

and their families into the education process and direct their focus laser-like on

enhancing academic achievement.

A Restorative Environment

On Campus, all the forces of order, education and therapy are allied in a powerful circle of support.

THE THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY

The Graham School is an intentional community. We conduct our day-to day-activities through strong social

contracts that explicitly emphasize program values and the responsibility of all staff to engage students in a

sustained, disciplined effort to succeed in school and in life. This web of caring relationships creates a sense of

belonging and an atmosphere of trust and security. It promotes pro-social and pro-self behavior and a fervent

belief that growth, development and success is not only possible but firmly within each student’s grasp.

CLINICAL EXPERTISE

All students are assigned their own clinician. Individual psychotherapy and pharmacological therapy is

provided when needed and approved by the student and/or family, who we involve in all clinical planning

and decision-making. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) is available

to help students identify and cope with specific concerns. Students participate in weekly peer group meetings

and themed group sessions such as Girls Circle, norms training and transition planning. Our clinical staff

is comprised of child psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and licensed clinical

social workers.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

A modern Health Center, staffed by a pediatrician, nurse practitioner, RNs and LPNs, provides primary health

care to all resident students and, on an as-needed basis, to day students. Comprehensive, integrated health

care services include initial health evaluation with follow-up assessments, prevention and health promotion

activities, and care for common illnesses, injuries and medical complaints. More specialized services are

provided by a network of carefully selected specialists. Nearby St. John’s Hospital provides emergency care.

Dental care is provided by Westchester County’s Mobile Dental Van.

Family Support

Families are respected and involved. FAMILY-CENTERED CARE

Families play a primary decision-making role in planning for the care and the education of their

children. This involvement includes deciding the appropriate mix of supports and services, goal setting,

designing and implementing their child’s individual education and treatment plans and monitoring the

outcomes of those plans. Family counseling, support groups and parental skill building in key areas

such as parent-child communication, developmental expectancies, guidance and discipline and

problem solving are also offered.

INTENSIVE FAMILY WORK

Sometimes families need assistance in providing a safe home environment for their children. When this

is the case, we work with urgency to help the family create and enact a solution-oriented plan to

restore safe and healthy family functioning. If these efforts do not succeed, we work with the student to

consider other family options, including being welcomed into a new, loving and permanent family. Our

cadre of highly professional case planners and social workers are trained in Solutions-Based Casework,

a family-centered, evidence-based casework practice model that helps families build on existing

strengths to solve issues which interfere with the safety and well-being of the home.

TRANSITIONING

One of our key challenges is to help students maintain their behavioral and educational gains after

they leave Graham, and to continue their growth, development and education going

forward. Post-graduate/discharge planning starts on day one of admission and continues

throughout the student’s enrollment at The Graham School. Student success is measured not only by

how well they do while here, but also how well they do after they leave.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grahamwindham/7891374752/in/set-72157631314216234/

The Day has 24 Hours

AFTERSCHOOL AND EVENING ACTIVITIES

A rich program of skill mastery, educational

supports, recreation and cultural activities helps

students develop strong, positive and healthy

functional identities. Activities include life skills

workshops, tutoring and homework help,

intramural sports, crafts and performing arts,

BENGALS (student council and leadership

training), ECAD (service dogs training) and field

trips to museums, concerts and parks. With over

90 campus jobs, our salaried student employment

program is designed to help students develop job

skills and positive workplace behaviors.

COTTAGE LIFE

The cottage is the resident student’s “home

base”. It is where they sleep, eat (when not

using the central dining room), attend to

personal hygiene, study, recreate and

relax. Most cottages house 12 – 14 students,

usually 2 per bedroom. Cottages are staffed by

experienced Youth Counselors who are

carefully recruited and trained to provide

personalized care, emotional support, skill

mastery, behavioral support and recreational

activities.

Editor-In-Chief: Poul Jensen

Managing Editor: Sandra April

Designer: Mayra Pacheco

Photo Credits: Julie Beers and Jeffrey Fleisig

The Graham School

One South Broadway

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706

www.graham-windham.org

www.greenburgh-graham.org

Editor-In-Chief: Poul Jensen

Managing Editor: Sandra April

Designer: Mayra Pacheco

Photo Credits: Julie Beers and Jeffrey Fleisig

For more information, please call us at

914-478-1100 Ext 235

914-478-1106 Ext 427