Co-Enrollment in Deaf Education

Co-enrollment programming in deaf education refers to classrooms in which a critical mass of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students is included in a classroom containing mainly hearing students and which is taught by both a mainstream teacher and a teacher of the deaf. It thus offers full access to both DHH and hearing students in the classroom through "co-teaching" and avoids academic segregation of DHH students, as well as their integration into classes with hearing students without appropriate support services or modification of instructional methods and materials. Co-enrollment thus seeks to give DHH learners the best of both (mainstream and separate) educational worlds. Described as a "bright light on the educational horizon," co-enrollment programming provides unique educational opportunities and educational access for DHH learners comparable to that of their hearing peers. Co-enrollment programming shows great promise. However, research concerning co-enrollment programming for DHH learners is still in its infancy. This volume sheds light on this potentially groundbreaking method of education, providing descriptions of 14 co-enrollment programs from around the world, explaining their origins, functioning, and available outcomes. Set in the larger context of what we know and what we don't know about educating DHH learners, the volume offers readers a vision of a brighter future in deaf education for DHH children, their parents, and their communities.

Marc Marschark is Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, where he directs the Center for Education Research Partnerships. His primary interest is in relations among language, learning, and cognition; current research focuses on such relations among deaf children and adults in formal and informal educational settings. Harry Knoors is Professor at the Behavioural Science Institute of the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Academic Director at Royal Dutch Kentalis. Knoors is trained as a psycholinguist, specializing in language and literacy of deaf children. He is involved in research on childhood deafness (mainly language, literacy, and psychosocial development) and research on the effectiveness of special education. Shirin Antia is the Meyerson Distinguished Professor in the Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies at the University of Arizona. She directs the program in education of DHH learners and is the author of numerous articles and chapters on social interaction, social integration, and inclusion of DHH students. She is a co-principal investigator of the Center for Literacy and Deafness.