Demographics of Deaf Education: More Students in More Places

We have witnessed important changes in the demographics of the deaf and hard of hearing student population receiving special education services during the past quarter century. The ethnic, intervention, and educational setting profiles are more diverse and dispersed. On top of the federal policy changes driving emerging intervention and continuing educational setting changes, there is now an increasing demand for deaf and hard of hearing students to participate in the general curriculum and school accountability systems. Over the same time period, stricter control over student data privacy and greater scrutiny of human subject protection have been incorporated into federal regulations. We highlight some consequences for deaf education research resulting from the convergences of these parallel trends in changing demographics, shifting school policy contexts, and regulation of federally funded research.