Academic Engagement of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in a Co-Enrollment Program

Abstract

In this observational study the researcher examined the Academic Engagement of deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students in a co-enrollment setting. Academic Engagement refers to attention, class participation, and time-on-task. Co-Enrollment is a model of group inclusion that provides D/HH students with access to a D/HH peer group as well as access to the general education curriculum. D/HH students typically lag behind their hearing peers in achievement, due in part to difficulties with accessing the general education curriculum both in special schools for the Deaf or self-contained classrooms, as well as in traditional inclusive settings. One way to know if a student has actually had access to, rather than mere exposure to the curriculum is to determine if he has attended to the instruction and participated in the instructional activities. Co-enrollment programming holds promise for addressing the problems with access that D/HH students typically experience in other educational placements; therefore the researcher hypothesized that in this unique setting D/HH students would demonstrate levels of Academic Engagement equal to their hearing peers. The researcher further hypothesized that there would be a relationship between Academic Engagement and the classroom environment, and that this relationship would be similar for D/HH and hearing students. Using a correlational research design, these hypotheses were tested by conducting repeated observations with use of the Mainstream Version of the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (MS-CISSAR) for measuring Academic Engagement. Results indicated that D/HH students in a co-enrollment setting were as Academically Engaged as their hearing peers; however they were less engaged in active forms of Academic Engagement (i.e., Academic Responding) than their hearing peers. Associations were found between aspects of Classroom Ecology, such as the size of Instructional Grouping, and the degree of Academic Engagement for both D/HH and hearing students. The associations between Academic Engagement and Classroom Ecology were similar for D/HH and hearing students; however some differences were found as well. The implications of these results are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.