Characteristics of schools for the deaf that offer comprehensive science programs: a descriptive profile

Studies documenting the state of science education for deaf students are two decades old. However, these studies give insight into many of the reasons that science education is lacking in so many areas. The present study examined the differences in characteristics between schools for the deaf that offer higher level sciences such as chemistry and physics and schools for the deaf that do not. To this end, a survey was distributed to a sample of schools for the deaf in New York and Pennsylvania in an attempt to identify these differences. The primary finding of this study is that the responding schools that offer comprehensive science programs that include Chemistry Physics differ in one major aspect from schools that do not: they cooperate with another educational institution to fulfill these needs of their student body. A secondary finding was that newer, more rigorous standards might negatively influence a school for the deaf\u27s ability to offer higher level sciences to its students