Research on Education and Employment Outcomes for Deaf and Hard of Hearing to be Funded By $1.3 Million Grant

headshot University of Texas at Austin educational psychologist Stephanie Cawthon has received $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Education to oversee the research arm of a newly formed national Center for Results in Education and Employment for Deaf Students (CREEDS).

The center, which is made up of five university partners, will be spearheading a nationwide effort to reduce dropout rates and improve post-secondary education and employment outcomes for students who are deaf and hard of hearing.

“As head of research I’ll be evaluating the resources, accommodations and policies that are in place now and determining what changes may be needed to help deaf and hard of hearing individuals successfully transition from high school to post-secondary education and then into jobs,” said Cawthon, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology, “Center activities will focus on evidence-based practices and will be developed from the most current scientific findings from interdisciplinary fields.”

Cawthon will spend the first year of the five-year grant conducting a national needs assessment and literature review to identify gaps in services for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.

“Many who are deaf may have unidentified issues such as learning disabilities and aren’t receiving help and resources for those needs,” said Cawthon, “Also, at the secondary level, education and transition needs often are left unaddressed. The needs assessment that I’ll be conducting will give us a clearer picture of the current situation and help the center be more efficient and effective.”

According to Cawthon, it’s not only important to make resources like online chat forums and informational blogs available to professionals and students, but also to place them where a widely dispersed target population can easily find and access them.

“Nationally, the number of deaf individuals is fairly small,” said Cawthon. “In fact, they’re often referred to as a ‘low-incidence population.’ Many institutions, like universities, may only have two or three deaf students and may not have had anyone in place to administer tests in American Sign Language or help with career counseling and placement. The center will be able to help these institutions build capacity and tap into resources that may already exist somewhere else in the nation. We’re going to be developing much-needed networks of training, resources and communications.”

Cawthon’s $1.3 million in funding is part of a total $20 million grant from the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. In addition to The University of Texas at Austin, the center also includes university partners California State University-Northridge, St. Paul College, the University of Montana at Missoula and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910