The educational attainments of deaf students in mainstream programs in England: Examination results and influencing factors

The author reports findings of an investigation into educational outcomes o f 16-year-old deaf students in mainstream programs in England in 1995 and 1 996. Data on examination results, communication competence, and social acce ptance were collected by questionnaire and analyzed against several backgro und factors. AU the background factors investigated contributed an effect o f about 20% on examination results, emphasizing the need to investigate the effect of other factors. Relatively strong predictors of examination succe ss were family socioeconomic status, presence of any additional learning di fficulty, whether English was used as a main language in the home, age at o nset of deafness, and parents' hearing status. Degree of hearing loss did n ot appear to have an important effect on examination success but was linked to other outcomes. The discussion considers how different codings of exami nation success can affect the results obtained from statistical analysis. F indings on the ethnic status of deaf students are also noted.