A Study of the Criteria Used in Hiring Teachers of the Hearing Impaired

A questionnaire on the criteria used in hiring teachers of the hearing impaired was sent to 200 administrators. The 157 respondents generally agreed on the importance of most criteria (e.g. academic grades, professional involvement, strong letters of recommendation). The majority indicated that graduating from a program with a Total Communication philosophy was "very important" and training in the oral philosophy was "not important." Closer investigation, however, revealed that while residential programs rated oralism as "not important," day programs judged oralism as more important and were more evenly spread in their other responses. Administrators of residential programs also rated extracurricular skills and talents as important, while day school heads did not. The majority of administrators recommended that teachers earn second endorsements in learning disabilities.