A Comparison of Deaf and Hearing Teacher Effectiveness

In this study the effectiveness of deaf and hearing teachers of deaf students was compared using both an observational instrument and student ratings. The results of the study indicate that based on hearing status there is no difference in teaching effectiveness when measured on an observational instrument. Student ratings indicated that deaf teachers were better than their hearing colleagues. These results represent an initial effort in this area of study. The results are contrasted against two trends in the area of deaf education. The first trend is the failure rate of deaf teaching candidates on teacher examinations. The second trend is the difference in the deaf teacher hire rate of day and residential programs.