Deaf ESL Students - Gallaudet University

O News
Clerc Center Celebrates Name Change, continued from
previous page
PHOTO JOHN GRINSTAFF
Historic partnership. Students from the Model Secondary School for
the Deaf reenact the meeting between Thomas Gallaudet, the New
England minister who went to Europe in the early 1800s to study deaf
education, and Laurent Clerc, the French deaf teacher who would
come to the New World and assist in opening a school for deaf
students in the United States.
PHOTO: SHERRY DUHON
Raise it high. Jim Barrie, left, social studies teacher, Roberta Gage,
right, family educator, Dr. Jane Fernandes, vice president of the Clerc
Center, and students from Kendall Demonstration Elementary School
hold up a banner with the new name.
F L A S H !
Literacy Program Works!
The results are in! Students at the Model Secondary
School for the Deaf at the Laurent Clerc National
Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University
achieved an average reading comprehension grade
equivalent of 7.3 on the Stanford Achievement Test
(SAT-9). This is substantially higher than the national
3.8 grade equivalent average for 18-year-old deaf and
hard of hearing students.
“We are very proud of these results,” said Dr.
Jane K. Fernandes, vice president of the Clerc
Center. “This means that a substantial number of
our students are post high school readers. We are
equally proud that both Hispanic and African
American graduates achieved significantly higher
reading comprehension levels than their counterparts
nationwide.”
Signs of Literacy
Researchers Look at How Deaf Children Achieve Literacy Skills
How do deaf children achieve strong skills in American Sign
Language and then use those skills to develop skills in
English? What would be the implications of these findings
for deaf children whose parents do not use English in their
homes?
A research project at Kendall Demonstration Elementary
School at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education
Center at Gallaudet University seeks answers to both of
these questions.
“We’re looking at the acquisition of American Sign
Language and the development of English literacy in different
contexts from preschool through elementary through a
case studies’ approach,” said Carol Erting, a Gallaudet
Department of Education faculty member and principal
investigator for the project. “We are following up on work
begun in 1994, collecting additional data on American Sign
Language and English literacy competencies, conducting
family interviews and compiling educational histories on
each of the children.”
Six children have been selected for follow-up longitudinal
studies. Targeted for the different backgrounds that they
represent, the children include one student whose parents
speak Spanish, and one student who has an additional identified
disability.
“Deaf and hearing researchers are working together as a
team to accomplish this study,” said Dr. Erting. “We are
excited to continue working on it.”
The findings will be disseminated as they become available.
48 Spring 2000