Synopsis

This book, a companion to Marschark's Raising and Educating a Deaf Child, presents a summary of the current state-of-the-art in deaf education. With dramatic changes in deaf education over the past 30 years, this book considers what we now know, what we do not know, and what we should know about the education of deaf students. Taking a developmental perspective, the authors look first at the history of deaf education, and then at education as it begins at home and in the classroom, encompassing discussion about reading, American Sign Language, and school choice. The various programs available for deaf children and young adults are appraised, including details of the curriculum in English, math and science, and social studies. Using a research-based yet readable approach, the authors set aside the politics, rhetoric, and confusion that often accompanies such discussions. Rather, they clearly evaluate deaf education, explaining complex information in a way that is useful to a wide range of readers involved in deaf education, from parents and day care providers to elementary, high-school, and college teachers and other education professionals.

Biography

Marc Marschark was the first director of the Center for Research, Teaching, and Learning at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is now a professor in the Department of Research. He is also a member of the Department of Psychology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He edits the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education and is the author of several books, including Raising and Educating a Deaf Child (Oxford, 1998), Psychological Development of Deaf Children (Oxford, 1997), and Relations of Language and Thought: The View from Sign Language and Deaf Children (Oxford, 1997).
Harry G. Lang is a professor in the Department of Research at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. Deaf himself, he is a leader in the field of science and mathematics education for deaf students. He has published several books on the contributions of deaf persons in the history of science and technology.
John A. Albertini is Professor and Chair of the Department of Research at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. He teaches English as a second language to undergraduate students who are deaf or hard of hearing and language development to future secondary school teachers of deaf students.