Exemplary Programs and Research

Transition Collaboration Selections

Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Announces New Collaborative Study of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Graduates' Experiences after High School

The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center (the Clerc Center) is pleased to announce the selection of two collaborators for its 1999-2002 Partners for Progress initiative: Transition from School to Postsecondary Education and Employment. The two programs selected are Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD), Jacksonville, Illinois and South Hills High School (SHHS), Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program, Covina-Valley Unified School District, West Covina, California. These programs were selected in a competitive review and selection process that included researchers, transition specialists, educators, parents, administrators, and members of the deaf community.

Transition from high school to postsecondary education and the world of work is one of the Clerc Center's top three priorities. The focus of the three-year collaborative effort will be the exploration of deaf and hard of hearing high school graduates experiences for the first five years after graduation. the Clerc Center, ISD, and SHHS will conduct a longitudinal follow-up study of a selected group of their graduates. The information from the study will guide the collaborating schools in reviewing and improving their transition programming. The experiences of the graduates also will provide the content for transition instructional materials designed to facilitate the preparation of deaf and hard of hearing students for successful life experiences. Some of the graduates from the collaborating programs will appear in videotapes that will be a part of the instructional materials.

Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD), Jacksonville, IL, located in west-central Illinois, is a state-supported commuter and residential
school for deaf and hard of hearing students, ages 3-21. ISD’s high school program serves approximately 150 students, grades 9-12. Under
the direction of the Department of Human Services, Office of Rehabilitation Services, ISD is an integral part of the statewide program of services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at South Hills High School (SHHS), West Covina, CA currently serves 59 students, grades 9-12. This mainstream program is located on a public school campus of approximately1,500 students located twenty miles east of Los Angeles, in theCovina-Valley Unified School District. Deaf and hard of hearing students commute daily from twelve surrounding local school districts. Interpreter support is provided for deaf and hard of hearing students participating in after-school activities and sports programs. In 1990 and 1992, SHHS was selected as a California Distinguished School.

The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center's Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) serves approximately 200 deaf and hard of hearing commuter and residential students, grades 9-12, from all over the United States and its territories. MSSD is a federally mandated demonstration program and is located on the campus of Gallaudet University, Washington, DC.

On May 3, 4, and 5, 1999, the collaborators attended the first of a series of planned meetings with the Clerc Center personnel and collaboration contacts, Judith LeNard and Gary Hotto, to plan and implement the collaboration. The May meeting was held at the GUKCC at Gallaudet University. The collaborators from the Illinois School for the Deaf were Dr. Mickey Jones, director of the evaluation center, Mr. Mark Clodfelter, assistant principal, and Ms. Tiffani Steffy, transition coordinator. Collaborators representing South Hills High School were Ms. Natalie Cormier, school psychologist, and teachers of the deaf Mr. Tomas Garcia, Jr. and Ms. Marie Lubman.

Periodic updates on the transition projects can be found at the EPAR Web site.

The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, a federally mandated demonstration program for deaf and hard of hearing students on the campus of Gallaudet University, serves students from preschool through high school. the Clerc Center establishes and maintains collaborations with researchers and programs throughout the United States through its Partners for Progress program. In addition, the Clerc Center develops materials designed to improve the achievement levels of deaf and hard of hearing students.