Our Program : Overview

The Shefa School offers families a unique educational choice: high-quality, research-based instruction for children with language-based learning disabilities that is seamlessly integrated with Jewish community, learning, culture, and traditions. For students who have struggled to find a school where they can thrive, the search is finally over.

CELEBRATING
a child's unique gifts

Each child’s shefa — their abundance of unique gifts, talents, skills, and insights — is the launching point for an individualized instructional plan that fosters academic, social, and emotional competence and confidence. By celebrating a child’s strengths, encouraging their interests, and giving them the tools to overcome their challenges, we create a warm, supportive community, where students feel understood, accepted, and valued.

An Academic Program
Created with Care

Our Lower School and Middle School programs feature a low, 3:1 teacher-student ratio and expert small group instruction. Our comprehensive curriculum utilizes evidence-based multisensory instruction, including PAF (an Orton-Gillingham reading program), The Hochman Method (a writing program designed for students with learning disabilities), and Multisensory Math. Our Educational Leadership team is comprised of leaders in the fields of reading and writing, language development, special education, social-emotional learning, and Jewish Studies.
A young girl in a pink top leans over her notebook, intently writing with a yellow pencil, her attention captured entirely by her schoolwork.

Taking a holistic
approach to success

A teacher and a young student joyfully give each other a high-five over a blue carpet in a library, surrounded by colorful books and learning materials.
We know that our students sometimes need a little extra help to achieve their academic goals. That’s why additional supports like speech-language and occupational therapy are embedded into our classrooms and curriculum. Our teachers collaborate with a variety of specialists to deliver instruction and design a comprehensive plan that provides each student with the skills and confidence that will empower them to succeed.

A warm, welcoming,
inclusive Jewish home

The Shefa School is a pluralistic school, where Jewish community, culture, and traditions are infused into each and every day. Here, students learn skills that enable them to fully participate in Jewish life and embody Jewish values such as Chesed (acts of loving kindness), Ahavat Yisrael (love for Israel and the Jewish people), and Tikkun Olam (commitment to repairing the world).
A man in a gray sweater and two children, one wearing a kippah, watch as he lights candles on a traditional menorah during a classroom celebration with students seated in the background.

Enriching the
whole child

A gym teacher in a gray shirt enthusiastically reaches up to high-five a young student in mid-jump, with another instructor observing, in a gym with blue mats.
We offer an enriching, well-rounded, comprehensive program that draws on students’ shefa to engage them in visual and performing arts, music, and physical education classes along with community service projects. We value community life and welcome parents and families to participate in holidays, celebrations, and other activities throughout the year.

Building foundations
for abundant lives

Our goal is to build a strong foundation by giving students the skills to return confidently and successfully to mainstream Jewish and secular schools. We empower students to become active, joyful, lifelong learners; critical thinkers; kind and responsible individuals; and contributing members of the Jewish community and the broader world.
A focused young girl in a red hoodie, inscribed with "BE A NICE HUMAN," intently writes in her notebook at a school desk, with a pencil in hand.

Learn more about our program