The Hospital School Program (HSP) collectively has 167.5 years of teaching experience and can be found on all units of the Hospital, including the Cardiac Center.

A is for all areas of the Hospital

• The HSP provides instruction to eligible inpatients throughout the Hospital as well as some outpatient areas.
• We have Education Coordinators in the Main Hospital, Seashore House and the Voorhees office who can help assist with school services.

B is for billable

• HSP is a billable service to a child’s school district and instruction can begin once we have approval from that school district.

C is cyber school

• If the student attends Cyber School like Connection, Agora, etc., we are not able to provide instruction to that student.
• If the students are working with their district and doing a cyber portion of their curriculum online, HSP is able to work with those students.

D is for district

• We must follow that child’s school district calendar for holidays, end of school year, etc.

E is for eligible

• Patients who meet the following criteria can be eligible for HSP:
  • Be enrolled in a school in the United States (K-12th grade).
  • Be hospitalized for 10+ calendar days.
  • Have a chronic illness requiring multiple hospitalizations.

F is for family

• We value the input that families provide on how their child works best in a school setting.

G is for goals

•  Special Education students who have IEP (Individualized Education Plan) goals may be eligible for HSP.
• If a student has an IEP, we can begin instruction once we have a copy of that IEP for the teacher to work from.

H is for hospital homebound

• HSP is considered hospital homebound and we have to go by that patient’s district homebound polices for school instruction here at the Hospital.

I is for instruction

• Instruction takes place either bedside or in group for an hour each day unless the sending district tells us a different amount of time.

J is for journey

• HSP Education Coordinators support patients and families on their journey by providing advocacy resources and other materials that can help them navigate the education system.

K is for keeping students on track

• The HSP staff will support students to keep on track with all of their subjects so that they are ready to go back to school once they leave the Hospital.

L is for liaison

• HSP acts as a liaison with families, schools and Hospital teams to support patients’ academic success.

M is for maintain

• We strive to maintain academic skills during hospitalizations.

N is for normalization

• We help to normalize the hospital setting, since school would be part of daily life for a young person if not in the hospital.

O is for one's own schoolwork

• We try to get a student’s own school work here to use for instruction. If we do not have work from the school, we will supplement with our own materials.

P is for partner

• We partner with the patient’s school district to meet academic requirements, attendance policies and follow assigned curriculum.

Q is for quality

• We strive to provide quality instruction for every HSP student.

R is for re-entry

• We assist rehabilitation patients with new cognitive and/or physical needs, and support school re-entry following a lengthy hospitalization or illness on the rehabilitation unit.

S is for summer

• During the summer we have limited staff. Two teachers work in July and two in August.
• We do not provide Extended School Year (ESY) but we can offer Extended Homebound.
• If a patient has an IEP and has been approved for ESY, we can look into if he/she would be eligible for HSP during his/her hospitalization.
• We have to get approval from the school district to begin instruction.

T is for teachers

• Our teachers are highly qualified, Pennsylvania-certified teachers who are trained in a variety of areas, including elementary, middle, high school and special education.

U is for upon discharge

• Upon discharge, the teachers send a progress report to the student’s school explaining how many hours of instruction were received and what work was completed at the Hospital.

V is for volunteers

• Patients from school districts that deny payment will receive HSP Volunteer services when available and are placed on a priority list.
• If you would like to volunteer in the HSP, please reach out to our Volunteer department.

W is for ways you can help

• To find out how to make a gift to benefit the Hospital School Program, or to donate new school supplies, please contact the Child Life, Education and Creative Arts Therapy Department at 215-590-2001 or click here.

X is for extended homebound

• A patient may have Extended Homebound on his/her 504 plan or IEP; this may allow HSP to make up instruction hours during the summer months.

Y is for you

• If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email School@email.chop.edu

Z is for zealous

• The HSP staff is zealous in their pursuit of making school accessible to those hospitalized.