National Association of the Deaf

Submitted by Jeannette Johnson on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:48

As many members of the Deaf Community, and especially those in the Deaf Education field know, there is a severe nation-wide shortage of Deaf Education teachers who are proficient in American Sign Language (ASL). According to DeafED.net, there are currently seventy D/HH teacher training programs in the United States, but it is not known exactly how many programs train the future teachers to use ASL. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also forecasts the job prospects for Special Education teachers, which includes Deaf Education, as excellent.

It came as a shock to the Michigan Deaf Community and others within the Deaf Education field, when Michigan State University announced last week that it would close its Deaf Education program by 2012. The university will also terminate ASL classes in 2011. The MSU Deaf Education program provides teacher training in two philosophies and supporting methods used in Deaf Education -- the bilingual-bicultural (bi-bi) philosophy and the oral philosophy. MSU claims that it needs to close these programs due to budget issues.

The elimination of this program is particularly upsetting for those in Michigan because it is also the only program in the state that prepares teachers in ASL and the bi-bi philosophy. Eastern Michigan University also has a teacher preparation program for D/HH students, which is exclusively oral in philosophy, though it claims to provide its students exposure to all philosophies. Regardless of university-wide budget woes, it is unreasonable to cut a program that supplies teachers needed to serve this low-incidence population and which nearly guarantees all its students employment in their field upon graduation. Many MSU-trained D/HH teachers work at the Michigan School of the Deaf as well in bi-bi and total communications programs in the state and nation. Therefore, by closing a well-respected, highly successful and much needed program, MSU is contributing to the state and national shortage of Deaf Education teachers, and is also violating its commitment to diversity as well as contributing to the historic under-serving of deaf and hard of hearing persons.

With this in mind, I am encouraging the national Deaf Community to send emails to the MSU board of trustees and administration, the Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Michigan Board of Education, and the Michigan Special Education and Early Intervention Director. They need to hear from us how important Deaf Education teachers who are proficient in ASL are to all of us, not just to those in Michigan.Please feel free to use the following points when sending in your emails:

• The graduates of MSU's Deaf Education program are practically guaranteed to get jobs in their field, anywhere in the nation.
• MSU can help reduce the budget of the Deaf Education program by eliminating the AVT section, since Eastern Michigan University already provides AVT training.
• This will have a deeply adverse impact on the education of deaf children in Michigan, and contribute to the national shortage of Deaf Education teachers.
• ASL is the third most used language in the country, and no educational institution would dream of eliminating French or Spanish. Our language deserves equal treatment and respect that is afforded to other languages.
• A couple of years ago, MSU gave the students an opportunity to have an ASL dormitory floor, with wide support from various departments within the university. The present actions of the university seems to be a reversal of its support for the ASL floor.
• By doing this, MSU contradicts its mission of advancing knowledge, transforming lives and fails to promote diversity and inclusion.

Michigan State University Contact Information:
presmail@msu.edu – Dr. Lou Anna K. Simon, MSU President
kwilcox@msu.edu – Dr. Kim Wilcox, MSU Provost
cames@msu.edu – Dr. Carol Ames, MSU College of Education Dean
dbyrum@byrumfisk.com – MSU Board of Trustees

Michigan Government Contact Information:
FLANAGANM@MICHIGAN.GOV– Mike Flanagan, Superintendent of Public Instruction
thompsonj3@michigan.gov – Jacquelyn Thompson, Director of Special Education and Early Intervention
PDF List of MI Board of Education Members' Emails