Diane Victoria Perkins, Administration and Supervision

The proposed research will examine the parent-school partnership during the critical period of educational placement for children with severe to profound hearing losses.  The study will investigate if assistance that is provided to parents is comprehensive, accurate, and unbiased. This study also will identify the role of parents and professionals during the placement meeting.

Three hundred participants from diverse school programs serving children with severe to profound hearing losses will chosen through stratified sampling.  Administrators, service providers, and parents will respond to surveys specifically designed for this project.  Analysis of the responses will be completed through descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, and ANOVA for closed-set questions, and through qualitative measures for open-ended questions.

Systemic resistance in the field of education (Goldman, 1994; Skrtic, 1991), and controversy, debate, and rhetoric in deaf education (Gearheart, Weishahn, & Gearheart, 1996; Winefield, 1986) have precluded an effective coalition between parents and school professionals.  Application of this study's analyses has the potential to provide far reaching benefits to the parent-school partnership in deaf education. Results of this study can be applied to systemic planning, field application, and teacher preparation instruction.