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FYI – 2007 State of Education Address by Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Closing the Achievement Gap for Students
Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
The underachievement of our state’s deaf and hard-of-hearing students is of grave concern.
Only 8 percent of our deaf students and 15 percent of our hard-of-hearing students score proficient or advanced on the California Standards Test for English-language arts.
In math, only 10 percent of our deaf students and 18 percent of our hard-of-hearing students score proficient or advanced.
Historically, deaf and hard-of-hearing children have struggled to acquire literacy and other academic skills. This is not because they cannot hear. If hearing loss, in and of itself, caused academic failure, then all students with hearing loss would be failing, and they are not.
It is a well-established fact in the field of deaf education that the deaf students who are most likely to succeed academically are those children who are born to deaf parents. Children are born into homes where they have access to the visual language of their families (American Sign Language), and they acquire that language at the same rate that hearing children of hearing parents acquire spoken language. Because they enter school with age-appropriate language skills, they are well prepared to develop literacy skills.
But more than 90 percent of children with hearing loss are born to hearing parents, most of whom have had no previous exposure to deafness. For deaf and hard-of-hearing children who are born to hearing parents, research shows that the most important factors that will lead to their success in school are: age of identification and parent involvement. When a child’s hearing loss is identified by six months of age and the child and his parents are enrolled in intensive and appropriate Early Start services aimed at the development of language skills (spoken and/or signed) that child is likely to acquire language skills commensurate with his hearing peers and cognitive abilities.
To help close the achievement gap for deaf and hard-of-hearing students:
The California Department of Education (CDE) will continue to collaborate with the California Department of Health Services to ensure that through the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program, all infants with hearing loss are identified by three months of age and referred to Early Start programs by six months of age.
CDE will also continue to work closely with Early Start programs to ensure that infants with hearing loss and their parents are provided intensive Early Start services by highly qualified teachers of the deaf, so that parents can acquire the knowledge and skills they need to provide a language-rich environment in the home.
Educators must be sure that school children who are deaf or hard of hearing receive instruction in age-appropriate, standards-based curriculum. Many children who are deaf learn best when instruction is provided by direct instruction by a qualified teacher of the deaf, who is proficient in signed language.
"We know that children who are deaf and hard of hearing can learn. It is our job to make sure they are provided with equal opportunity to learn."
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
I agree with him. What do u think?
Closing the Achievement Gap for Students
Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
The underachievement of our state’s deaf and hard-of-hearing students is of grave concern.
Only 8 percent of our deaf students and 15 percent of our hard-of-hearing students score proficient or advanced on the California Standards Test for English-language arts.
In math, only 10 percent of our deaf students and 18 percent of our hard-of-hearing students score proficient or advanced.
Historically, deaf and hard-of-hearing children have struggled to acquire literacy and other academic skills. This is not because they cannot hear. If hearing loss, in and of itself, caused academic failure, then all students with hearing loss would be failing, and they are not.
It is a well-established fact in the field of deaf education that the deaf students who are most likely to succeed academically are those children who are born to deaf parents. Children are born into homes where they have access to the visual language of their families (American Sign Language), and they acquire that language at the same rate that hearing children of hearing parents acquire spoken language. Because they enter school with age-appropriate language skills, they are well prepared to develop literacy skills.
But more than 90 percent of children with hearing loss are born to hearing parents, most of whom have had no previous exposure to deafness. For deaf and hard-of-hearing children who are born to hearing parents, research shows that the most important factors that will lead to their success in school are: age of identification and parent involvement. When a child’s hearing loss is identified by six months of age and the child and his parents are enrolled in intensive and appropriate Early Start services aimed at the development of language skills (spoken and/or signed) that child is likely to acquire language skills commensurate with his hearing peers and cognitive abilities.
To help close the achievement gap for deaf and hard-of-hearing students:
The California Department of Education (CDE) will continue to collaborate with the California Department of Health Services to ensure that through the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program, all infants with hearing loss are identified by three months of age and referred to Early Start programs by six months of age.
CDE will also continue to work closely with Early Start programs to ensure that infants with hearing loss and their parents are provided intensive Early Start services by highly qualified teachers of the deaf, so that parents can acquire the knowledge and skills they need to provide a language-rich environment in the home.
Educators must be sure that school children who are deaf or hard of hearing receive instruction in age-appropriate, standards-based curriculum. Many children who are deaf learn best when instruction is provided by direct instruction by a qualified teacher of the deaf, who is proficient in signed language.
"We know that children who are deaf and hard of hearing can learn. It is our job to make sure they are provided with equal opportunity to learn."
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
I agree with him. What do u think?