Date of Award

12-2012

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Special Education and Literacy Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Paula D. Kohler

Second Advisor

Dr. Brooks Applegate

Third Advisor

Dr. David Test

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Whitten

Keywords

Hearing impairments, transition education, special education, predictors of past-school success, post-school outcomes

Abstract

Students with hearing impairments are historically a low incidence disability group. Gaps in knowledge of evidence-based practices for implementing transition education and services for this population is limited, primarily as a function of the size of the population; they have not received much attention from the educational research community. Students with hearing impairments often experience more successful outcomes in postsecondary education and employment than other disability groups, but less than those without a disability; however, we know little of the specific educational experiences associated with such success. In contrast, a body of work on predictors of post-school success for students with disabilities in general has emerged in the field of special education. This study will use information from that work to develop a set of secondary education predictor variables. Subsequently, using data from a national longitudinal transition study, these variables will be tested via a number of models which strongly predict postsecondary education and employment outcomes for students with hearing impairments.

This study has the potential to expand the limited research in the field of transition education for students with hearing impairments. It should lead to additional research to further expand knowledge regarding challenges that students with hearing impairments face in high school. Finally, this study should impact our field by bringing attention to programs and provision of special and regular education services that definitively benefit students with hearing impairments, as opposed to interventions in settings that do not meet their needs.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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