Your Name
The Date
English V02 Section 71121 2 PM (put your appropriate section and time, please)
Research Proposal
Word Count: 383
Research Question: Should Deaf children be in schools that are specifically designed for the
needs of the Deaf, or should they be in mainstream classes with accommodations, such as
interpreters?
People who are most affected by this issue include the Deaf students and their parents. There are
other people who might be interested in this issue as well. These include parents and students of
hearing children in mainstream classes, teachers who might have an interpreter and a Deaf
student in their classes, district administrators who have to balance cost with fairness, and
government officials who are also concerned with cost and equality. (I will need to find out
exactly which government officials might be concerned with this.) Finally, groups who advocate
for the rights of people who are Deaf or have disabilities are made up of people who will be
interested in this issue.
What is at stake here? The most important thing at stake here is the ability of Deaf children to get
a fair, quality education. Money is also an issue. If one option is more expensive than the other,
how should public school districts respond if the more expensive option is also the better one? In
the end, this boils down to how we balance the right of the Deaf students to get education with a
public school system that may not be prepared to help them succeed.
What do I need to find out before forming an opinion?
How easy/expensive is it for a Deaf child to go to a special school? Are they all private? Are
there public schools especially for the Deaf?
What are the laws in California about how schools have to accommodate Deaf children? Are
there any federal laws (laws for the whole USA) about this issue?
How do deaf students who are educated in public schools do compared to Deaf students who are
educated in Deaf-only schools? Test scores? College graduation rates? High school completion?
Employment rates?
Possible sources of information on this issue include studies run by credible institutions, articles
from credible sources such as magazines and journals for educators about the issue. Finally,
personal narratives of Deaf students and their families who experienced either mainstream or
special classes would be a useful resource.