The Educational Attainments of Deaf Students in Mainstream Programs in England: Examination Results and Influencing Factors

The author reports findings of an investigation into educational outcomes of 16-year-old deaf students in mainstream programs in England in 1995 and 1996. Data on examination results, communication competence, and social acceptance were collected by questionnaire and analyzed against several background factors. All the background factors investigated contributed an effect of about 20% on examination results, emphasizing the need to investigate the effect of other factors. Relatively strong predictors of examination success were family socioeconomic status, presence of any additional learning difficulty, whether English was used as a main language in the home, age at onset of deafness, and parents' hearing status. Degree of hearing loss did not appear to have an important effect on examination success but was linked to other outcomes. The discussion considers how different codings of examination success can affect the results obtained from statistical analysis. Findings on the ethnic status of deaf students are also noted.