Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any school decision made by any parents who read what follows.
No Child Left Behind has been around for awhile now, so I figured there had to be public sources of data on test scores. I headed to www.greatschools.net, and plugged "deaf" into the search engine on a state by state basis. I found test score data for several deaf schools, although many schools did not have any data. Test scores were listed as percentages.
Based on what I found, it looks like the best-performing school for the deaf based on the currently available statistics at GreatSchools.net is....wave hands...the Kansas School for the Deaf! How well did they do?
Grade 11
In 2007, a whopping 77% met or exceeded standards for Reading. This was equal to the state average.
In 2007, an outstanding 88% met or exceeded standards for Writing. This was actually BETTER than the state average, which was only 76%. Imagine that..deaf students writing better than hearing students!
In 2007, an incredible 100% met or exceeded standards for Math. Again, this was better than the state average, which was only 71%!
What type of education does KSD offer? According to their site:
"Bilingual instruction, which builds on the strengths of a fluent, visual language [American Sign Language] to develop fluency in a second, written language [English]."
Parents, don't rush to move to Kansas to enroll your hearing kids in this school. As far as I can tell from the KSD website, only deaf children can enroll.
The next-best performing school for the deaf? No surprise...it is the Maryland School for the Deaf! Although MSD had the next-best test scores, their students still scored well below the state average. Data for MSD was only available through grade 8 because Maryland only tests through grade 8.
Grade 6
In 2007, 63% were at or above proficient in Reading. State average was 77%, which means the students there did really well in Reading.
In 2007, 69% were at or above proficient in Math. State average was 72%, which means the students there excelled in Math.
Grade 7
In 2007, 45% were at or above proficient in Reading. State average was 70%.
In 2007, 64% were at or above proficient in Math. State average was only 61%, which means the deaf students did better than the hearing students in Math!
Grade 8
In 2007, 48% were at or above proficient in Reading. State average was 68%.
In 2007, 53% were at or above proficient in Math. State average was 57%, and that means the deaf students did really well.
What type of education does MSD offer? According to their site:
"Students at MSD are bilingual, communicating in two languages: AmericanSign Language (ASL) and English"
In addition, MSD utilizes the SAME curriculum that is used in Frederick County Public Schools.
That ends the good news part of this blog post. What follows are numbers that seem to paint a fairly negative picture. Bear in mind that this is an incomplete picture; as noted above, data was missing for many schools. Plus, class sizes tend to be small in deaf schools, so this could skew the numbers. To keep this post from becoming too long, I limited the data to higher grades, and English and Math.
- Alaska School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- Grade 9
- 40% in Reading in 2006. State average 76%
- 20% in Writing in 2006. State average 72%
- 20% in Math in 2006. State average 56%
- Arkansas School for the Deaf
- Grade 11
- 8% in 2005 in Literacy. State average in 2007 was 51%
- Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind
- Grade 10
- 12% in Reading in 2007. State average 69%
- 12% in Writing in 2007. State average 51%
- 11% in Math in 2007. State average 30%
- Florida School for the Deaf and Blind
- Grade 9
- 4% in Reading in 2007. State average 41%
- 4% in Math in 2007. State average 60%
- Grade 10
- 4% in Reading in 2007. State average 34%
- 8% in Writing in 2007. State average 49%
- 11% in Math in 2007. State average 65%
- Georgia
- Atlanta Area School for the Deaf
- Grade 8
- 11% in Reading in 2007. State average 88%
- 11% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 89%
- 17% in Math in 2004. State average 81% in 2007
- Georgia School for the Deaf
- Grade 8
- 5% in English Language Arts in 2004. State average 89% in 2007
- Louisiana School for the Deaf
- Grade 9
- 6% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 58%
- Massachusetts
- Horace Mann School for the Deaf
- Grade 6
- 6% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 67%
- 15% in 2005 in Math. State average 52% in 2007
- Grade 7
- 21% in 2005 in English Language Arts. State average 69% in 2007
- Grade 8
- 7% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 75%
- 7% in Math in 2007. State average 45%
- Montana School for the Deaf
- Grade 10
- 8% in Reading in 2005. State average 78% in 2007
- Pennsylvania
- Scranton State School for the Deaf
- Grade 9
- 9% in Reading in 2006. State average 64% in 2007
- Grade 11
- 8% in Math in 2006. State average 54% in 2007
- South Carolina School for the Deaf
- Grade 10
- 14% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 88%
- 29% in Math in 2007. State average 80%
- Texas School for the Deaf
- Grade 9
- 60%, and 40% in Reading in 2005 and 2006. State average 86% in 2007.
- 8% in Math in 2007. State average 60%
- Grade 10
- 43% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 84%
- 30% in Math in 2007. State average 63%
- Grade 11
- 26% in English Language Arts in 2007. State average 90%
- 22% in Math in 2007. State average 80%
- West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind
- Grade 7
- 20% in Reading in 2005. State average 82% in 2007
- 20% in Math in 2005. State average 76% in 2007
- Grade 10
- 18% in Reading in 2005. State average 75% in 2007
- 9% in Math in 2005. State average 68% in 2007
19 comments:
Jamie, great news reporting, but pretty crappy news for us with deaf children (except for those lucky Kansas and MSD students). But I am pretty glad we can point to some excellent successes as a goal.
I can't find my school's (The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, MA) stats on this very cool site you cited or on the DOE site , but I'm pretty sure they are now taking the MCAS (the state's standardized tests), so I'm definitely following up. They too are bilingual, with ASL as primary, so I'm hoping I find the same stellar results.
Thank you for taking this on and doing so in such a straightforward, objective way and for busting past that tired and frightening 4th grade line! How well the next generation of deaf are learning and being taught is obviously so critical to the future of the deaf community. Beth
I wouldn't rely on that data. There has to be a better source. KSD? No way.
Hands wave to KSD.
Indiana School for the Deaf did not do well on the state tests...many factors for it. Still ISD has some ways to go.
http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapcorp.cfm?corp=9610
I do not see data on test scores from www.greatschools.net. I tried and tried to find the information. Can you tell me where did you find this information? Maybe I overlooked.
Thank you,
Aidan
I believe special needs students, especially many at Maryland, are exempted from testing and therefore scores are actually skewed. Maryland emulates their county's curriculum, however, in watered-down fashion. How do I know? I know many who had to tutor students at Gallaudet and NTID. Many pupils still end up taking English starting in the 100s, which at Gallaudet/NTID, is equivalent to remedial (less than 100s) elsewhere. Gallaudet's honor program is still equivalent or very slightly higher (depending on who teaches) than regular level in other places. Don't be fooled. Maryland, especially with Superintendent Tucker on the helm, is very slick at manipulating test methods and results. Maryland earned their reputation through quite controversial tactics (very athletically-motivated recruiting and eye-wink favor jobs for parents of studs). Maryland is one example why deaf schools today are getting richer (<5) and poorer (the rest). Truthfully, I give recognition to Indiana as I don't find anything misleading when reviewing their performances. Nothing too good to be true.
What does the MSD's test scores show us? It shows us that they are well on their way down. Parents, head out to Fishers or the Bay Area to give your children the quality education that they need.
Aidan,
It was easy to find the test scores. All I had to do was go to the school's page, and look for a tab labeled "TEST SCORES." Try it with the KSD page: http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/ks/1708
I will edit to add direct links to each school's page on GreatSchools.net so people can view the actual statistics for themselves as well as see additional data.
Interesting and not surprising. I do not think Deaf schools are at fault. The majority of deaf children in deaf programs out in the mainstream have scores that yield same results. It has to do with the homes where they are coming from. Lake of parental support. Schools often have to pick up the burden as I have seen here in Indiana public school system. Now about Kansas School for the Deaf, there are about eight 11 graders, if not less. Some of the students are of Deaf families and of hearing parents who sign fluently. The statistics you have are based on the small number of students. So it is not a good measure of the school performance. The scores are much much lower if you look at other grade groups. Kansas School for the Deaf experience terribly low scores as any other Deaf school or deaf program.
Theres much more than just the school or the philosophy of teaching.
Kansas School for the Deaf average reading level for K through 12 is at 3.0. I do not know how the Great Schools get the score.
Thank you for posting a list; certainly an eye-opener! Here's three other schools;
2007 Star Reports
CSDR - English/Lang. Arts Scores - 6% scoring at the Basic Level. (11th Grade students)
CSDR - General Math Scores - 7% scoring at the Basic Level. (7th Grade students)
CSDF - English/Lang. Arts Scores - 2% scoring at the Proficient Level, and 8 percent scoring at the Basic Level. (11th Grade students)
CSDF - General Math Scores - 17% scoring at the Basic Level. (7th Grade students)
Obviously, the quality of students at CSDF is a little bit better than those at CSDR.
Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD) 2007 English/Lang. Arts Data:
The 10th graders only eked out a 13% score.
The 10th graders did slightly better in math, though, garnering 33%.
I'm strongly for school accountability; the scores you posted were shockingly low, and their respective communities should really be pushing for change at these schools.
The grade average at Washington School for the Deaf has been low. My reading level was 4th grade when I graduated from this school.
I'd like to throw in the reason for ISD's low state scores as was explained to me by one of the administrators at ISD.
Around 52% of the student body at ISD has additional disabilities. The minimum requirement of IQ to take the test is at least 50-60 IQ. That really hurts ISD and I am sure other states' deaf schools, which is not fair.
A few years ago, the ISTEP test contained an essay question that asked about music... normally there would be a few essays questions that would allow the students to pick one to answer, but at that time, there was only one essay question and it was about music. Cripes.
So it seems that the state needs to consider the differential needs of student bodies and do a better job designing the test format for certain groups of people. ISD's teachers are doing their best to make sure that the cirrculum's materials match the materials used to study for ISTEP, but materials and guidelines do change, so it is an ongoing challenge.
About 63% of Indianapolis' public schools (I am speaking of HEARING schools) had failed ISTEP as well.
So it seems that USA is in need of an academic makeover.
Jamie,
Thanks so much for bringing up that blog. I digged up in Missouri but seems that those 4 Deaf Oral Schools and other PSE/ASL Deaf School do NOT have test data report but they do have Students Culture Data Report! Except for only one elementary from Gallsudet School for the Deaf Elementary did report for the different kinds of test and with the Students Data Report in Missouri:
1. Gallaudet School for the Deaf Elementary:
Black, not Hispanic 78%
White, not Hispanic 17%
Asian/Pacific Islander 5%
They do have test report on different kinds...
2. (Orally) St Joseph Institute for the Deaf : Do not have test report!
White, not Hispanic : 81 %
Hispanic: 7%
Black, not Hispanic 5%
3. (Orally) MOOG in St. Louis: Do not have test report!!!!
White, not Hispanic 48%
Asian/Pacific Islander 6%
Black, not Hispanic 2%
Hispanic 2%
Unspecified 42%
4. (Orally) CID: Student data was not reported for this school and also no test data report !!
5. (Orally) MOOG in Columbia: Student data was not reported for this school and also no test data report!
6. (Combined Orally and PSE/ASL)Missouri School for the Deaf : Student data was not reported for this school and also no test data report.
Just a quick question; Is MSSD accountable like any other school? I really couldn't find any testing data for Model and its students.
I agree with Karen. Most State run deaf schools have to accept multiple handicapped deaf now just to remain open. How can you expect multiple handicapped DEAF to meet public school standards? This does not make any sense! This is expecting too much of the students and frustrating the parents.
I am wondering if tutoring would work for many of these bright deaf students? I know that in Hawaii they have professionals that fly from island to island working with the deaf mainstreamers. When the mainstreamers reach a certain age, then they enroll in the State run deaf school.
We need a PATTERN TO FOLLOW. "Whatever works".
Lantana
I also agree w/Karen (as usual). At an Early Intervention conference I attended in Nov. they claim that 40% of children who have hearing loss have at least one additional condition or disability. So some of those scores could be skewed in that manner. I think sometimes they don't include factors as such in the results. Thank you for posting this, this helps to clear some of the air. Our Early Intervention team from the state's Deaf and Blind school are actually the first people to point out the "fourth grade slump" observation. I think different results should be shown to these parents just finding out their child is deaf. It seems that the results may come out differently if taken today.
KSD has more special-needs and multi-handicapped deaf students than regular deaf students. They were probably exempt from the testing, but the scores speak well for the small number of bright deaf students at that school. Just because it's small, doesn't mean it can't be expected to excel like "bigger" schools.
Please check the Kansas School for the Deaf data again. I believe you misread it. The "whopping" 77% proficiency was for the State, not the school! There was no data available for the school, according to the website you referenced.
We need to look at the charts carefully.
I grew up in Kansas. Average is not that impressive. They still teach creationism in schools.
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